Scandal in Brazil: chats revealed between Judge Alexandre de Moraes and the arrested Banco Master banker

Brazil is going through one of the most delicate financial and institutional crises in recent years. The so-called “Master Case”, which began as an investigation for bank fraud, ended up leading to a political and judicial scandal of enormous magnitude that today shakes the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and threatens to have direct consequences for the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The case revolves around the Master Bank and its owner, the banker Daniel Vorcaro, who ended up in detention after the financial institution went into deep insolvency. The bank's downfall caused hundreds of thousands of investors to default, prompting Brazilian authorities to launch an investigation for alleged

financial fraud.

The seriousness of the episode was recognized even within the government itself. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad went so far as to say that it could be the “biggest bank fraud in the history of Brazil”. However, the scandal escalated to an even greater level when evidence emerged of an exchange of messages between Vorcaro and one of the most powerful magistrates in the country: Alexandre de Moraes, current vice-president of the Supreme Federal Court and a central figure in the Brazilian

judicial system.

The revelation was published by the newspaper O Globo, based on information obtained as part of the Federal Police investigation.

According to the report, several judges of the court itself admitted in private conversations that the messages between Moraes and the banker are “serious” and “difficult to justify”.

According to the investigators' reconstruction, the exchange of messages occurred on November 17, 2025, the same day that Vorcaro was arrested at Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo, when he was about to board a private jet.

The data come from the cell phone seized from the businessman at the time of his arrest, where the messages sent to the magistrate were recorded. In them, Vorcaro informed the Supreme Judge about the progress of negotiations to sell the Master Bank due to the imminent bankruptcy, in addition to mentioning the confidential investigation being carried out in the Federal Court of Brasilia.

According to material published by O Globo, the media had exclusive access to screenshots of nine messages exchanged on WhatsApp between 7:19 and 20:48 that same day. The newspaper also confirmed that the telephone number that appears in the captures corresponds to Alexandre de Moraes. During that exchange, the banker twice asked the magistrate if he had “any news” about the progress of the investigation. At another time, he even asked her directly: “Were you able to block her?”

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The researchers also detected a particularly striking method of communication. Both Vorcaro and Moraes would have written the texts in the notes on their phones, then took screenshots and sent them using images in single-view mode, a system that prevents the messages from being preserved. For this reason, the judge's answers were not stored, although the messages sent by the banker did remain stored on his

own device.

The chronology of the case also reveals that the arrest warrant was signed at 15:29 and that just 18 minutes later the businessman's defense filed a court order to try to avoid it. Later, at 17:22, Vorcaro wrote to Moraes again to let him know that he was about to announce an agreement with investors and to ask him again if there was “anything new” or if something could be “blocked”.

In that same exchange, the businessman also mentioned future negotiations with banker André Esteves, of the BTG Pactual bank, and argued that an agreement with foreign investors “could inhibit” certain judicial measures. According to cell phone records, Moraes never responded with another written message, but reacted with a thumbs up emoji. Less than 12 hours later, Brazil's Central Bank decided to liquidate the Master Bank and Vorcaro was eventually arrested

.

The businessman regained his freedom eleven days later, by decision of Judge Solange Salgado, of the Federal Regional Court of the First Region, although he was under surveillance with an electronic ankle bracelet and with his passport withheld. This situation continued until his new arrest in early March 2026, ordered by Supreme Minister André Mendonça

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The case is made even more delicate by another fact that directly involves the magistrate. The law firm of his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, had a contract with the Master Bank that stipulated payments of R$ 129 million over three years. Faced with the spread of the scandal, Moraes said that he “did not receive the messages referred to in the article” and maintained that this is “a false inference aimed, once again, at attacking

the Supreme Federal Court”.