Mendonça’s Declassification Deepens Crisis at Brazil’s Supreme Court

Overview

• Tuesday’s declassification by STF minister André Mendonça made public a Polícia Federal report that includes messages between banker Daniel Vorcaro and a number attributed to Alexandre de Moraes and contract records tied to Moraes’ wife.
• The report shows Vorcaro asking whether he should leave the country days before his November 2025 arrest and seeking Moraes’ help with officials at the PF and the PGR, while metadata and payment records point to commercial ties between Vorcaro and people linked to Moraes.
• Moraes has not been formally made an investigated party but faces a wave of impeachment petitions and calls for a plenary probe, and STF president Edson Fachin says he will assess institutional measures in the coming days.
• The disclosures intensified a clash between Mendonça, the PF and the PGR, with prosecutors asking to void the report and investigators warning that further unsealing could jeopardize ongoing operations and planned actions tied to the Banco Master probe.
• The story has widened political fallout: polls show the Lula–Flávio Bolsonaro margin narrowing, President Lula privately pressed Fachin for a measured response, and markets and lawmakers are watching whether the scandal will stall the government’s Senate agenda or reshape campaigns.