PF Stages Face-Off Between Banco Master's Vorcaro and Ex-BRB President at STF; BC Director Excused

Overview

• Federal police conducted a roughly 30-minute confrontation on Dec. 30 after finding conflicting accounts in separate depositions by Daniel Vorcaro and former BRB chief Paulo Henrique Costa at the Supreme Court.
• Ailton de Aquino, the Banco Central supervision director, gave technical testimony considered valuable and was excluded from the face-to-face session; he is not a target in the case, according to the relator’s office.
• The session was led by PF delegate Janaína Palazzo and accompanied by Toffoli’s auxiliary judge, with friction over procedure after Toffoli first ordered an immediate confrontation and later let the PF decide based on the depositions.
• The inquiry examines alleged sales of unbacked credit portfolios tied to Banco Master to BRB with exposure estimated at about R$12.2 billion; the central bank vetoed BRB’s purchase and ordered Master’s extrajudicial liquidation on Nov. 18.
• Defense for Costa rejected the idea of contradictions, calling them differing perceptions, while Vorcaro remains free under electronic monitoring as the probe advances to forensic cross-checks coordinated by PF, PGR, BC and the TCU.