Vorcaro tells the PF that BC recommended the sale of Master to BRB and denies political facilitation

The owner of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro, told the Federal Police that the Central Bank’s Inspection Board recommended the sale of his institution to Banco de Brasília (BRB), but denied in his statement any type of “political facilitation” or fraud in the case, according to the full hearing seen by the Reuters.

PF delegate Janaína Palazzo, who conducted the interrogation, questioned whether, if Vorcaro were president of the BRB, he would try to buy a “bank that had already sold him, more than once, false credit portfolios”.

In response, Vorcaro denied that Master had sold false credit portfolios to Banco de Brasília, and said that if he commanded BRB he would carry out the deal considering that this would allow a regional institution “the possibility of growing, having a national reach and competing with large Brazilian banks”.

At that moment, Vorcaro highlighted that the operation had even been recommended by audits and by the BC’s own technical area.

“So, yes, I would do this business. In fact, this business was recommended by several audits, by the Central Bank’s own inspection, which at that time, even before we filed, indicated it as being a good business for the financial system”, he stated.

The Central Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vorcaro’s statements in his testimony.

Vorcaro made these statements on December 30, 2025 during testimony given at the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

Banco Master was subject to extrajudicial liquidation ordered by the BC on November 18, and, on the same day, its owner was arrested in an operation launched by the PF to investigate suspected billion-dollar fraud. Vorcaro was later released, but is serving precautionary measures.

In September, the BC had rejected BRB’s purchase of Master, which had been announced in March, after completing an analysis of the institution’s financial capacity to handle the deal.

The delegate asked the banker whether there would be a financial liquidity crisis at Master. He acknowledged that there was a crisis, which was not new, but highlighted that his bank “has always been solvent, has always had much more assets than liabilities and has always honored all commitments until November 17th”.

“And this liquidity crisis, it must be highlighted, and it is in the Central Bank’s own report, was created by two things, due to a change in regulation with pressure from the big banks, which changed the FGC rule twice, because the market considers itself to be the owner of the fund that was created precisely to create competition in the market. This change put pressure on the bank’s funding, because the entire business plan since 2018, which we delivered to the Central Bank, was based on the FGC”, he explained.

At various points in the testimony, Vorcaro denied the existence of a bank fraud of R$12 billion in transactions involving the sale of credits from Master to BRB, which is the target of an investigation by the PF.

No facilitation

At another point in the testimony, the PF delegate asked whether Vorcaro had sought out “some of his political friends” to facilitate the deal with BRB, such as the governor of Brasília, Ibaneis Rocha.

At the time, Master’s owner said that, if he had so many political relationships and asked for help from these politicians, Master’s operation with BRB would not have been denied by the BC, and he would not have been wearing an electronic ankle bracelet nor would he have been arrested.

Vorcaro also stated that he had no “political facilitation” in the case. He admitted, however, that he met with the governor of Brasília “a few times” because Ibaneis was the indirect controller of BRB, but assured that he never discussed anything with him about the bank “that was not technical”.

Vorcaro said that until the day before Master’s liquidation, the BC’s Director of Inspection, Ailton Aquino, acted with “normal diligence” in the case, when asked whether he had failed to fulfill his duty of prudential supervision.

“No. In fact, I believe that the supervision area chaired by Mr. Ailton until the 17th acted with normal diligence, because points were debated daily in relation to both Banco Master, BRB trading, and portfolios”, he said.

In a note published this Friday, the BC stated that its Director of Inspection coordinated the identification of inconsistencies in operations involving the transfer of credit portfolios from Master to BRB, having carried out “rigorous investigations” that demonstrated problems in these assets.

The newspaper O Globo reported this Friday that Aquino had sent messages to the then president of BRB, Paulo Henrique Costa, asking him to buy Banco Master portfolios to help the institution resolve liquidity problems.

In a press release, the municipality said that Aquino “obviously never recommended the acquisition of fraudulent cards”.

“Director Ailton de Aquino makes his banking and tax information and records of conversations he held with the former president of BRB, Paulo Henrique Costa, available to the Federal Public Ministry and the Federal Police, renouncing, for this purpose, the secrecy regarding them”, highlighted the Central Bank.