Justice Cristiano Zanin of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) ordered the Federal Police on Sunday (13) to deliver to his chambers, by 11 p.m., a full copy of the cellphone of banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is under investigation in the Banco Master inquiry. In the order, addressed to police director-general Andrei Rodrigues, Zanin wrote that "there is no hierarchy among the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court". The line answered his colleague André Mendonça, who hours earlier had spoken out against releasing the material.
The device, an iPhone 17 Pro, was seized on November 18, 2025, in the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero, when Vorcaro was arrested for the first time. Federal Police say the extracted data are among the materials supporting the investigations into the bank and include records related to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Zanin's decision comes two days before Tuesday's (15) session, when the court's full bench is set to review the police report on messages exchanged between Vorcaro and Moraes. According to InfoMoney, the session may determine whether there are grounds to open a formal investigation against the justice.
The dispute between the justices
Zanin argued that he needs the full contents to form his conviction for Tuesday's judgment, "regardless of other implications the material may indicate". In his view, the evidence "belongs to the plenary of the Supreme Federal Court and its members, and not to one specific member", and the September 15 session still has no defined object, and may require analysis of material extracted from the phone of the man under investigation.
"One cannot impose on the judges any restriction on access to information, since all of them are bound by the duty of confidentiality and of performing their functions well, with impartiality and independence."
Mendonça, the reporting justice for Operation Compliance Zero, sent an official communication on Sunday against opening the full contents at this point. In his view, sharing the material "would only contribute to disrupting" Tuesday's judgment and would put "at risk the entire progress and success of the investigations" into suspected fraud involving Banco Master. He argued that all justices already have the same material needed for the judgment. Citing a statement by court president Edson Fachin that "the gravity of the facts does not authorize shortcuts", Mendonça added: "It also does not tolerate subterfuges or deviations from routes, toward interests other than those of Justice".
On Sunday morning, the Federal Police told Fachin it has "full technical conditions" to provide copies of the data while preserving the chain of custody. Zanin noted that the material has already been made available to Vorcaro's lawyers, and stressed that delivery to his chambers comes "without prejudice to other chambers that may submit an identical request". Besides Zanin, Moraes and Gilmar Mendes have expressed interest in the full contents, and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) has also requested them, to assess the context of the messages.
How the case got here
The crisis inside the court has as its backdrop the investigations into Master, the bank owned by Vorcaro. The cellphone at the center of the dispute was seized in November 2025. Since then, the Federal Police produced a report with messages in which Vorcaro reached out to Moraes as the inquiries advanced. Some of the replies attributed to the justice were sent through single-view or deleted messaging features, which prevented full recovery of the conversations, according to InfoMoney. On Friday (11), Fachin decided to keep on Tuesday's agenda only the judgment on the investigation report, and took over the case as reporting justice. The next step is the full bench session on Tuesday (15).