Brazil Supreme Court unseals Banco Master fraud probe as Flavio Bolsonaro faces movie inquiry

Unsealing the Banco Master files

Chief Justice Edson Fachin ordered the unsealing of thousands of court documents regarding the fraudulent collapse of Banco Master on 10 September 2026. Justice Andre Mendonca complied with the ruling on 11 September 2026, making public extensive records from the ongoing federal inquiry while Fachin ordered the release of additional material within 24 hours. The disclosure occurs weeks before Brazil's October 2026 presidential election, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in a closely contested race. Speaking to television network SBT hours prior to the decision, Lula supported full disclosure across all branches of government.

Whenever there is an allegation involving the judiciary or politics, it should be made public so everyone knows what is happening... Investigate everything, disclose everything, regardless of who it hurts.

Inquiry into Flavio Bolsonaro and Dark Horse

The unsealed records reveal that Mendonca authorized a formal inquiry into Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on 22 July 2026 to investigate potential crimes of money laundering, corruption, and currency evasion. The investigation followed an 8 July 2026 Federal Police report and a 21 July 2026 endorsement by the Prosecutor-General's Office. Police findings show that Flavio Bolsonaro acted as a direct interlocutor for former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro regarding financing for "Dark Horse", a film about former president Jair Bolsonaro first reported by The Intercept Brasil on 13 May 2026. The agreement involved a pledged transfer of 24 million dollars (approximately 134 million reais), of which Vorcaro paid roughly 12 million dollars (over 60 million reais) into US accounts.

Investigators noted that interactions continued through late November 2025 when Vorcaro was under house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor, while also examining whether former deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro assisted in managing funds abroad. The Prosecutor-General's Office requested a review of legislative initiatives by Flavio Bolsonaro and Deputy Mario Frias to determine if parliamentary acts were tied to the payments. Flavio Bolsonaro stated during a campaign appearance in Manaus that the agreement was a private sponsorship and maintained that his campaign welcomed complete transparency.

Internal dispute on the Supreme Court bench

The disclosures have accelerated an institutional dispute within the Supreme Federal Court, where five justices have been named across case files. Mendonca made public police findings detailing messages that Vorcaro sent to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, generating allegations that Moraes advised the banker. Moraes responded by filing petition 16.704, accusing Mendonca of abuse of authority, administrative misconduct, and responsibility crimes. On 11 September 2026, senior justice Gilmar Mendes asked Fachin to merge petition 16.704 with petition 16.662 so both matters can be judged simultaneously during the 15 September 2026 plenary session.

The events of recent days, with the succession of decisions and measures taken in separate proceedings but based on a common factual and evidentiary substrate, recommend, in my understanding, the joint assessment of both above-mentioned cases under the coordination of the Presidency.

The full ten-member bench is also set to consider a preliminary request from the Prosecutor-General's Office to annul the police report commissioned by Mendonca, arguing that the justice lacked authority to order an investigation involving Moraes without prior plenary submission.

Timeline of the banking collapse

The scandal stems from Banco Master's rapid growth and aggressive fundraising in prior years. In the first half of 2025, Banco Regional de Brasilia began formalizing an acquisition of Master, but the Central Bank blocked the transaction weeks before the lender collapsed. On 17 November 2025, federal agents arrested Vorcaro at Guarulhos International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to the United Arab Emirates. On 18 November 2025, the Federal Police launched Operation Compliance Zero into an alleged 12 billion reais fraud scheme, prompting the Central Bank to order the bank's extrajudicial liquidation. In early December 2025, Justice Dias Toffoli granted a defense request transferring jurisdiction over the Banco Master proceedings to the Supreme Court.