When Brazilian businessman Daniel Vorcaro was detained in November 2025 in what prosecutors describe as potentially the country’s largest banking fraud, he reportedly told investigators he had 'friends in high places.' The collapse of his Master Bank and the widening probe have exposed a web of connections between financiers, senior judges and politicians at a sensitive moment in Brazil’s election year.
Vorcaro, 42, the principal shareholder of the small private Master Bank based in Faria Lima — São Paulo’s financial district — built a reputation for an ostentatious lifestyle and investment products promising returns above market rivals. In 2024, Brazil’s Central Bank concluded the lender lacked sufficient resources to meet its obligations.
In November 2025, police arrested Vorcaro over an alleged fraudulent arrangement involving Master and BRB, a state-owned bank based in Brasília. Regulators subsequently moved to liquidate Master Bank, which left more than $7 billion in liabilities and affected roughly 800,000 investors — many of whom have since received payouts from Brazil’s deposit guarantee fund.
Several senior executives connected to Master have been detained. Vorcaro is currently free on supervised release pending ongoing investigations and prosecutions.
High-Profile Connections
Shortly after the arrest, media reports named prominent officials connected — directly or indirectly — to the bank and its executives. Vorcaro’s lawyers requested that the case be sent to the Supreme Court. Justice Jose Dias Toffoli ordered secrecy around the proceedings and stipulated that investigatory steps be carried out under his supervision.
Press coverage said Toffoli shared a private jet in the same month as the arrest with the lawyer of another Master executive to attend the 2025 Copa Libertadores final. Reports also linked Vorcaro’s brother-in-law — who is under investigation — to a 2021 purchase of part of a resort from Toffoli’s brothers through a management company now scrutinized in the probe.
Outlets further reported connections to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes, including meetings with the Central Bank director in the months before Master’s collapse and a multi-million-dollar contract between Moraes’ wife’s law firm and Master Bank. Moraes has acknowledged meeting the Central Bank director but denied discussing the Master case.
Political and Institutional Repercussions
In 2024, while Master’s liquidity problems were emerging publicly, Vorcaro met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to Lula, Vorcaro told him there were 'people trying to bring me down.' Lula said he insisted on a technical investigation by the Central Bank rather than a political response, and warned that anyone found responsible would 'pay the price' for what he described as potentially one of Brazil’s largest financial scandals.
Master also engaged prominent legal advisers: in 2023 it retained a consultancy from the law firm of Ricardo Lewandowski, who later served as Lula’s justice minister from 2024 until January 2025; the government says those contracts were terminated before Lewandowski took office. Investigators have also highlighted that Vorcaro’s brother-in-law, an evangelical pastor, was reportedly a major donor to former president Jair Bolsonaro’s 2022 re-election campaign.
'Anyone involved in this will have to pay the price for the irresponsibility of causing ... perhaps the largest financial scandal in this country’s history,' President Lula said in an interview.
As the investigation expands, political analysts warn the scandal could reshape public confidence in institutions and influence voter perceptions ahead of elections. Authorities continue to trace financial flows and contractual relationships as prosecutors build their case.
