Vorcaro paid Castro for a whiskey tasting the day before the Rioprevidência contribution

Federal Police (PF) investigations identified meetings and conversations between the former governor of Rio de Janeiro Cláudio Castro (PL) and the owner of Banco Master Daniel Vorcaro before Rioprevidência contributed to the financial institution. The corporation maintains that the close relationship between the two made transfers of R$3 billion possible and lists an “almanac of irregularities” in the investments made by the body responsible for paying pensions to state employees.

Documents show that the banker invited Castro, on May 14, 2024, to an exclusive whiskey tasting in New York, in the United States. The messages were revealed by GloboNews on Wednesday night. The investigation shows that the event was restricted to just ten people and cost US$1.013 million, a value equivalent to more than R$5 million at current prices.

“There will be a small event. Whiskey tasting.”, Vorcaro wrote to the former governor.

Then, Castro asks “what time and where?” He receives the address of the event and responds: “I’m going.”

The PF points out that, the following day, Rioprevidência made a contribution of R$80 million in Letras Financeiras from Banco Master. Investigators say they identified two other investments in the sequence, worth R$80 million and R$70 million.

‘Amazing experience’

The corporation lists other meetings between Castro and Vorcaro before making contributions to Banco Master. One of them occurred in May 2023, when the former governor attended a dinner with the banker in New York. According to the PF, the restaurant’s total bill exceeded US$ 13 thousand — exceeding R$ 60 thousand at the current price. The amount would have been paid by the owner of Master.

“Friend, it was an incredible experience. Thank you very much.”, wrote Castro after dinner.

The investigations indicate that Rioprevidência’s first contributions in Letras Financeiras from Banco Master occurred six months later, in November 2023. They were initially R$40 million and, days later, another R$80 million.

Between these two transactions, the former governor and the banker had another meeting. This time at the banker’s house, in Itaim Bibi, in São Paulo. The messages obtained by the PF show the moment in which the two agreed on time and address.

The PF also points to meetings at Palácio Laranjeiras, the governor’s official residence, and at Palácio Guanabara, headquarters of the state government, in March 2024.

In the dialogues obtained by the PF, Vorcaro asks if he could meet the then governor “quickly” in Rio. Castro then responds by adjusting meeting times to fit the meeting.

The PF maintains that Rioprevidência’s investments in Master continued even after warnings about the increased risk of Vorcaro’s bank.

The former governor’s defense denies the existence of an “undue personal relationship” with Vorcaro. The Master maintains that all operations followed technical and legal criteria.