Book and arsenal of messages: former president of BRB prepared material for PF
Former BRB president Paulo Henrique Costa used to walk up and down Brasília with a leather briefcase, filled with documents, and a cell phone with a religious image as a screen saver. Concerned about the possibility of being arrested, the executive had been preparing to give a new statement to the Federal Police. He said he had nothing to report, because he was just a part of a bigger machine, but that he was willing to collaborate with the investigators.
And, to help PF delegates, Costa had been developing an Artificial Intelligence program to locate, by themes and characters, all the messages he saved on his cell phone. WhatsApp conversations ranged from contacts with Central Bank directors to exchanges with Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Master, and former governor Ibaneis Rocha.
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During negotiations with Master, the former president of BRB received, in June 2025, a message from Ibaneis demanding an outcome for the negotiations between the public bank and Daniel Vorcaro’s financial institution. During the dialogue, the former governor of the Federal District said that the operation was “generating more wear and tear than it should have” and that it would not “withstand this wear and tear”. The archive of this WhatsApp conversation is under analysis by the Federal Police, which is investigating signs of fraud in operations carried out by the two financial institutions.
When contacted, Ibaneis admitted that he always demanded an outcome for the negotiations between Master and BRB, but clarified that he was not influenced by anyone, not Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Master, nor political groups. The former governor’s defense states that it was natural to have “concern about the unfolding of all actions that have repercussions in the Federal District”. Paulo Henrique Costa did not comment.
On Costa’s cell phone, which the PF has already examined, there are also messages exchanged with the BC’s Director of Inspection, Ailton de Aquino, who praises the executive’s presentation during negotiations with Master and during the purchase of Master’s credit portfolios by BRB.
The dialogues compiled and printed by Costa also show a disagreement with Vorcaro when problems in Master’s credit portfolios acquired by BRB began to come to light. In WhatsApp conversations, delivered to the PF, Costa complains about Master’s audit problems and the delay in sending documents. The dialogues were selected by Costa himself to show that he disagreed with the way Vorcaro conducted the operation, which would later be rejected by the Central Bank on suspicion of fraud.
Another exchange of messages between Costa and Vorcaro mentions an alleged meeting with the commander of the União Brasil party, Antônio Rueda, during negotiations for the sale of the bank to the institution controlled by the Federal District government. To people close to him, the former BRB president said that he used to have breakfast with Rueda, whom he met in Pernambuco, and that these meetings were just to discuss the political scenario.
Rueda said in a statement that he “does not comment on private dialogues” that would, in his view, be disclosed irregularly. The leader of União Brasil also stated that he “does not have any relationship” with Vorcaro, “apart from occasional social contacts, as occurs with several people in the political and business world”.
In addition to the WhatsApp files, Costa gathered documents with BRB numbers, letters from the Central Bank and a petition written by his lawyers explaining the step-by-step negotiation with the Master. After being fired by Ibaneis from command of the public bank in the Federal District, the executive said he was dedicating part of his time to reviewing the evidence from the investigation and writing a book about the crisis that shook him. He had not yet written the chapter about his relationship with the former governor of the Federal District when he was arrested by the Federal Police this Thursday morning.
Costa, according to the investigation, is suspected of participating in a “money laundering scheme for the payment of undue advantages that would have been intended for public agents”. He denies having committed any irregularities. According to the investigation, there is suspicion of financial crimes, in addition to corruption, money laundering and criminal organization. According to columnist Malu Gaspar, from GLOBO, investigators identified six properties that would have been received as bribes by the former president of BRB, four in São Paulo and two in Brasília, valued at more than R$140 million in total.
