Picture this: the owner of a bank gets, on his phone and before anyone else, the stories one of Brazil's biggest news portals is about to publish. He reads them, suggests cuts, asks for tweaks and even receives pitch ideas that could help his businesses. That is exactly the script laid out in messages extracted by Brazil's Federal Police from the phone of Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master, according to reporting by UOL published on Thursday (15) and also carried by the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.
According to the report, by journalists Renata Agostini and Tiago Dantas, the direct line between Vorcaro and the CEO of the Metrópoles group, Lilian Tahan, was established in 2024, the same year Master signed a R$ 20 million advertising contract with the portal. In the following months, the banker began reading and editing stories about Master before they went live, and was consulted about coverage that might interest him. The UOL review found at least 14 texts sent to Vorcaro in advance, of which 11 were changed after his requests. There are also records of two stories published at the businessman's request.
In April 2025, when sending Vorcaro a profile about himself, Lilian wrote:
"If anything is wrong, let me know!! I won't publish without talking to you first"
The messages also show the businessman going after opponents. According to UOL, Vorcaro guided and edited stories against Renato Gomes, the Central Bank director who had tightened oversight of Master. The newspaper Estadão, which also covered the case, reports that the banker went as far as killing finished stories and suggesting topics to the portal.
What Metrópoles says
Asked about sending texts to Vorcaro, Lilian Tahan replied that "checking with the source whether the story reflects the context given to the outlet is a practice I adopt with business, political and Judiciary figures". She also denied any link between the advertising contract and the coverage, pointing to Metrópoles stories that exposed problems at Vorcaro's companies, such as Banco Master, Ambipar, Fictor and Oncoclínicas.
The case is the latest chapter of a scandal shaking the backstage of Brazilian journalism. Weeks ago, similar messages had already revealed Vorcaro's closeness to a Globo executive, who was fired after the leak. Master, liquidated by the Central Bank, remains at the center of Federal Police investigations. And judging by the pace of new chapters, this season is far from over. Readers who want to follow each new episode can keep up with the coverage on the Metrópoles portal and on UOL and Folha, which update the story throughout the day.