PF Stages Face-Off Between Vorcaro and Ex‑BRB Chief at STF as Central Bank Defends Master Liquidation

Overview

• Federal police conducted a roughly 30‑minute acareação on Dec. 30 between Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro and former BRB president Paulo Henrique Costa after lengthy depositions exposed contradictions.
• Banco Central supervision director Ailton de Aquino Santos testified for nearly two hours, was deemed not an investigado, and was excused from the confrontation.
• Minister Dias Toffoli first ordered a confrontation before depositions, then allowed the PF to collect statements and decide on the face‑off, a shift that sparked procedural frictions during the hearings.
• The probe targets allegedly fabricated credit portfolios sold to BRB valued at about R$12–12.2 billion; the BC vetoed the BRB deal in September and ordered Master’s extrajudicial liquidation on Nov. 18 after Vorcaro’s mid‑November arrest and release under restrictions.
• In a filing to the Federal Audit Court, the BC said it notified federal prosecutors of suspected crimes and cautioned that reversing the liquidation poses systemic risk, as the BC staff union denounced efforts to pit the regulator against the Supreme Court and market voices voiced concern about potential judicial rollback.