Messages between Vorcaro and former BRB president expose R$ 17 billion fraud
Conversations retrieved by Federal Police reveal negotiation of billion-real fraud between the owner of Banco Master and the former head of BRB. Both are in custody.
Secrecy lifted at Supreme Court exposes message exchanges that, according to Federal Police, sealed fraudulent agreement
Messages exchanged between Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, and Paulo Henrique Costa, former president of Banco de Brasília (BRB), reveal negotiations for the execution of a fraud estimated at R$ 17 billion, according to cnnbrasil.com.br. The records were obtained by the Federal Police and form part of the case files of the Master Case at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), whose secrecy was lifted on Friday (11) by reporting minister André Mendonça, at the request of the Court president, Edson Fachin.
Vorcaro's defence informed that it would not comment. The lawyers for Paulo Henrique Costa could not be reached for comment.
Bad portfolios and bribery in real estate
According to the investigation, the BRB acquired low-quality credits from Master and even negotiated the complete purchase of Vorcaro's bank. Paulo Henrique is accused of having received R$ 146 million in bribery through real estate. Both are in custody.
Still in 2024, BRB teams had already detected irregularities in the portfolios of payroll-deductible credit transferred by Master, according to Federal Police case files. Vorcaro then asked for help to "liquidate something" in a day, claiming to have a "shortfall", and suggested INSS portfolios as a solution.
Paulo Henrique, however, pointed out high default rates in part of these portfolios and complained about the origination rate — a cost tied to contracts. Vorcaro asked how the operation could be advantageous for the BRB. The former public bank president suggested keeping other rates unchanged so that he would need to "give less explanation here", in other words, internally at the BRB. Vorcaro agreed: "I'll find a way."
"We are together for life"
According to the Federal Police report, any losses suffered by Vorcaro as a result of adjustments in rates would be compensated by the BRB itself in future operations — which, for investigators, is part of the scheme.
On 31 August 2024, Vorcaro sent a lengthy complaint about delays by the BRB. Paulo Henrique explained the high-risk profile of the securities. In response, Vorcaro sent a sequence of messages: "friend, we are together now" and "we will face a lot of things still together". Paulo Henrique replied: "we are together even for life."
For the Federal Police, the tone of the messages goes beyond ordinary negotiation between two banks. "The terms used by both demonstrate that they already understood themselves as partners in projects, members of the same organised association that had as one of its primary tasks facilitating the purchase of Banco Master by the BRB", states the police report.
Documentation and pressure to close the deal
On 11 March 2025 — 17 days before the BRB publicly announced the acquisition of Master — the two spoke again, this time about the purchase of real estate. Vorcaro questioned Paulo Henrique's genuine interest in the operation, as he had the impression that he was in "non deal mode".
Paulo Henrique affirmed that he remained available, but noted that "there is no transaction without documentation". The Federal Police interpret the message as evidence that some business was stalled by the absence of documents. "I believe very much in the transaction, in the future, in what we are doing. But we need to overcome these requirements", said Paulo Henrique. "This documentation point is very important", he added.
Between one message and another, Vorcaro told the former BRB president: "you have been a giant", adding that "there comes a time when we have to go for goal and then fix up the house of what was lacking". For investigators, Vorcaro was pressuring Paulo Henrique to close operations despite documentary failures.
"Feel as if the bank were yours"
On 18 April, after the BRB announced the purchase of Master, Paulo Henrique told Vorcaro that he wanted to visit the bank's headquarters in São Paulo. Vorcaro replied that he could go "any day" and completed: "Feel as if the bank were yours", followed by a laughing emoji.
Paulo Henrique, for his part, ended the conversation with a caveat: "P.S.: it will NEVER cease to be YOUR bank."
Source: Google News BR — Crime