Former banker Daniel Vorcaro, the ex-owner of Banco Master, gave a deposition to Brazil's Federal Police on Friday (28) and denied that any corruption took place involving employees of the country's Central Bank. The hearing was held by videoconference from the Papudinha jail in the Federal District, where he is being held. According to his defense, it lasted four and a half hours. The session had been scheduled for Thursday (27) but was postponed because of technical problems with the connection.
It is worth separating what is confirmed from what remains an allegation. Confirmed: the deposition happened, it was Vorcaro's first interrogation since his preventive detention in March, and it is part of an inquiry into his relationship with former Central Bank supervisors Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza and Bellini Santana. The allegation, still under investigation and with no formal conclusion, is that the two employees received financial advantages and acted in favor of Master while the bank faced a liquidity crisis and was under the Central Bank's supervision.
What the police are investigating
According to the Federal Police and the Central Bank, heard by G1, there are indications that the two former supervisors acted to benefit Vorcaro in internal discussions about oversight, financial rescue and measures that could affect the institution's future. CNN Brasil reported that police are investigating whether the employees worked as "spies" for the banker inside the monetary authority, passing along privileged information. Vorcaro denied receiving any such information.
In a statement released after the deposition, the defense said this was the first opportunity the former banker had to answer the investigation's questions directly:
"On that occasion, Daniel answered clearly and consistently all the questions put to him, leaving no inquiry unaddressed. It was demonstrated, in particular, that there was no act of corruption involving the employees mentioned in the ongoing investigation."
The statement adds that Vorcaro remains willing to provide broader and deeper clarifications, as long as he is effectively given the chance to cooperate. That point matters because, according to CNN Brasil, the deposition came after the formal rejection of two plea bargain proposals (known in Brazil as colaboração premiada) submitted by the defense, by both the Federal Police and the Prosecutor-General's Office.
Arrests and the liquidation of Master
Vorcaro has been in preventive detention since March of this year. Before that, he had already been arrested in November 2025, in the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero, but was released days later by a decision of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region. Banco Master, in turn, was liquidated by the Central Bank, a measure that removed the institution from the market.
For readers following what comes next: the inquiry remains open, and the police may still hear other witnesses and review the content of Friday's testimony. Any new plea bargain negotiation, which the defense says it wants, would depend on the Federal Police and federal prosecutors. Until then, the accusations against the former Central Bank employees and against Vorcaro remain suspicions under investigation, with no formal charges filed in this specific inquiry.