Justice Mendonça met Master’s Vorcaro before federal probe

Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça met former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro on March 14, 2025, at the headquarters of an institute founded by the justice in São Paulo.

The meeting surfaced in messages found on Vorcaro’s phone that were disclosed Wednesday (Sept. 2) by news portal ICL and confirmed by Valor. The meeting reportedly concerned a case involving court-ordered government debt claims in the sugar-and-ethanol sector, rather than the Central Bank. At the time, proceedings in that case had been halted after Justice Alexandre de Moraes requested more time to review it.

The messages do not make clear what was discussed at the meeting. At that point, there was no Federal Police investigation into Banco Master. The inquiry into transactions between Master and Banco de Brasília (BRB), which eventually led to Vorcaro’s first arrest in November 2025, was opened only in August of that year.

Meeting contacts

The introduction between Vorcaro and Mendonça was reportedly arranged by Congressman Cezinha de Madureira of the Liberal Party (PL) and lawyer Ciro Soares, who represented Vorcaro. Soares also appears in the Federal Police report containing the former banker’s messages to Moraes and references to Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet.

The report says that on Feb. 8, 2025, Soares sent Vorcaro a photograph of himself with Mendonça at a tailor’s shop and said he was “working” for the banker.

“Hey, ‘Vorcarinho’, working for you! I just took André to Vasco [Vasconcellos, a renowned Brazilian master tailor] to get a suit made,” he reportedly said in a voice message.

The episode came to light after Mendonça lifted the seal on a Federal Police report showing that Moraes had received a series of messages from Vorcaro. In them, the former banker sought information about and tried to interfere with the investigation that would ultimately lead to his first arrest. In one message, he reportedly asked Moraes whether he should leave the country. He also sought protection from the Federal Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Mendonça response

In a statement Wednesday, Mendonça’s office confirmed the meeting with Vorcaro. It said the justice met the former banker “only once,” at Vorcaro’s initiative, and “limited himself to listening to him.”

“In the same month, he also received the businessman’s lawyer and still keeps in his office records the written briefs submitted on the occasion of the meeting,” the statement said.

It added that “on every occasion, the matter discussed was Provisional Relief Suspension [STP] 976, which was under review by the Supreme Court and concerned court-ordered government debt claims in which the bank had an interest, but which, on the exact date of the meeting, was pending because another justice had requested more time to review the case.”

In a statement, Madureira said that “at the time, there was no knowledge or public information about any investigation, suspicion or allegation of wrongdoing involving” Vorcaro.

He added that his role in the episode had already been “duly clarified by another party through official statements to the press, without pointing to any illegality in my conduct.”