Brazil’s Top Prosecutor Wins First Vote Against Inquiry Over Jailed Banker

BRAZIL · JUSTICE

Paulo Gonet, Brazil’s prosecutor-general, is in charge of the criminal case over the collapsed Banco Master. On Friday 25 September 2026 the first vote on whether he himself should be investigated went his way.

Francisco Sanseverino, rapporteur for the prosecution service’s governing council, found no minimum evidence of a crime. Eight more council members vote after him, so his view is not yet the council’s decision.

The headquarters of Brazil’s Prosecutor-General’s Office in Brasília, seen from the road. The Superior Council of the Federal Prosecution Service met here on Friday. (Photo: Luis Dantas, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

What the rapporteur decided

Sanseverino holds the rank of subprocurador-geral, the top grade of the federal prosecution career. He split his vote into two questions.

The first was whether the council should take Gonet off the Banco Master case for possible bias. Sanseverino said that question lies outside the council’s powers.

He said the bias claim “should be raised in those case files” at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil’s highest court. It would then be “for the STF itself to decide.”

In practice, that keeps Gonet at the head of the Banco Master proceedings unless the STF orders otherwise.

The second question was whether to open a criminal inquiry into Gonet. Sanseverino said no, finding no minimum evidence that a crime occurred or that Gonet committed one.

“Phrases or exchanges of messages cannot be examined in isolation or out of context,” he said. Doing so, he argued, creates “an artificial situation” that does not match the facts.

No direct conversation, the rapporteur found

Sanseverino said police found no contact saved as “Paulo Gonet” or “Gonet” on Vorcaro’s phone. Nor did they find any record of a direct conversation between the two men.

Most references to Gonet appear in chats between Vorcaro and Ciro Soares, a lawyer who once worked for Banco Master. For the rapporteur, the lack of direct contact “already weakens” the claim of a close friendship.

He called the April 2024 meeting in London “isolated” and “superficial”, a social occasion with other people present. He noted that Gonet admits speaking to Vorcaro once more, by phone, on 15 March 2025.

On messages about a London trip in 2025, he found no request for any advantage by Gonet. “These are conversations between third parties, without any direct or indirect participation by the prosecutor-general,” he said.

He also said Gonet backed the case prosecutors in Brasília and São Paulo from July 2025. That was when Gonet learned of the suspicions around the bank.

What the police messages say

The material comes from Vorcaro’s phone, seized by the Federal Police in Operation Compliance Zero, their investigation into Banco Master. The messages cover 2024 and 2025.

In April 2024 Soares told Vorcaro that “Gonet is firm” and that “friendship is everything”.

In March 2025 Soares sent the banker a photo of himself with Gonet, with the words: “Call here. He wants to talk to you.”

Phone calls followed, one lasting three minutes and 49 seconds. Police did not establish what was said.

Soares also forwarded messages he attributed to Gonet. One read: “I already miss you! I’m boarding for Rome. Send him this message.”

Other messages concern the prosecutor-general’s son, Pedro Gonet, joining a trip to London in April 2025. According to the police material, Vorcaro authorised paying his expenses.

In a message to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Vorcaro asked whether they could “reverse this with Paulo and Andrei”. Investigators read that as Gonet and Andrei Rodrigues, head of the Federal Police.

Then came the photo, published by O Globo on 18 September. It shows Gonet holding a cigar at a London table, with whisky glasses and Vorcaro seated nearby.

The prosecutor-general’s office confirmed the picture is genuine. Its background is set out in Paulo Gonet and Vorcaro Photo Tests Brazil’s Biggest Bank Fraud Case.

Gonet’s defence

Paulo Gonet denies any wrongdoing and sent the council a 37-page written defence on 15 September. “I have no friendship at all with Mr Daniel Vorcaro,” he wrote.

He added that he has no “personal interest” in cases where Vorcaro is a party or under investigation. He says he met the banker once, at a London legal event with other officials present.

At a Supreme Court session, he called a single phone contact arranged by a lawyer “very brief and banal”. He has also asked the court to annul the police report that names him.

He argues that Justice André Mendonça, then in charge of the case, overstepped by ordering inquiries that prosecutors had not requested.

Why the prosecutor-general matters so much

The Federal Prosecution Service, known in Portuguese as the Ministério Público Federal (MPF), brings federal criminal cases in Brazil. The constitution makes it independent of the government, the courts and Congress.

The prosecutor-general heads it. The president nominates a career prosecutor, and the Senate must approve him for a two-year term.

Only the prosecutor-general can bring criminal charges before the STF against the most senior officials, such as ministers and members of Congress. Any charge in the Supreme Court side of the Master case would come from his office.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva first appointed Gonet in December 2023. The Senate approved a second term on 12 November 2025, by 45 votes to 26.

Removing a prosecutor-general early takes a request from the president and an absolute majority of the Senate, in a secret ballot.

The bank behind the case

Banco Master grew by selling deposit certificates that paid well above market rates. Savers were protected by Brazil’s deposit guarantee fund, the FGC, which insures deposits up to R$250,000 (about US$48,000).

The central bank ordered Master and other group companies into liquidation on 18 November 2025. Investigators put suspected fraud in credit portfolios the bank sold at about R$12 billion (about US$2.3 billion).

Conversions use 5.175 reais per US dollar, the open.er-api.com rate for 25 September 2026. The FGC’s expected bill of about R$51 billion (about US$9.9 billion) covers Master and two sister banks.

Vorcaro was arrested in November 2025 at São Paulo’s main airport as he prepared to leave on a private jet. A court ordered him freed under electronic monitoring on 28 November 2025.

Justice Mendonça ordered him back to jail on 4 March 2026. Police allege he led a criminal organisation that included a group used to watch and intimidate opponents.

Delays sought by his lawyers are covered in Brazil: Jailed Banker Vorcaro Asks Top Court to Delay Police Interviews.

How the council vote works

The Superior Council is the prosecution service’s top decision-making body. It has ten members: the prosecutor-general, his deputy and eight elected senior prosecutors.

Gonet normally chairs it but is barred from his own case, so nine members vote. Nicolao Dino, the council’s vice-president and brother of Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino, chairs the session.

After the rapporteur, members vote from most junior to most senior, and Dino votes last. The council has never before weighed an inquiry of this kind into a prosecutor-general.

The next member to speak, Janice Ascari, said a mere mention of Gonet’s name did not show he knew of the fraud. She called the London photo “a clear moment of social relaxation”.

The request came from federal deputies of Novo, a pro-market party in Congress. They asked for another senior prosecutor to take over the Master files at the Supreme Court.

What comes next

If most members side with the rapporteur, the request is shelved and Gonet keeps the case. If a majority disagrees, a senior prosecutor is appointed to examine the material.

That prosecutor would report back to the council. Any sign of a crime would then go to the STF, which alone decides whether to open an inquiry.

Any member can also ask for more time. That would suspend the vote until the council’s next ordinary session.

The rapporteur’s vote is not a verdict on Gonet’s conduct, and it is not yet the council’s decision. Even an approved inquiry would not remove him from office or mean he committed a crime.

The bias question can also be raised at the STF itself, which is where the rapporteur said it belongs.

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service?

The Ministério Público Federal (MPF) investigates and prosecutes federal crimes and defends the public interest in court. It is independent of the government and is headed by the prosecutor-general.

Is Paulo Gonet under investigation?

Not at this stage. On 25 September 2026 the council’s rapporteur voted against opening one, with eight more members voting after him.

What was Banco Master?

A Brazilian lender that sold high-yield deposit certificates backed by the national deposit guarantee. The central bank shut it on 18 November 2025, and its former owner, Daniel Vorcaro, is in jail.

Does the vote affect money held in Brazilian banks?

No. The vote concerns who prosecutes the case; deposits remain insured up to R$250,000 (about US$48,000) per person per banking group.

Sources: G1, Folha de S.Paulo, O Globo, Estadão (via Terra), CNN Brasil and Brasil de Fato, 25 September 2026 (rapporteur’s vote and council procedure); Estadão, 25 September 2026 (Gonet’s written defence); Brazilian Senate, 12 November 2025 (reappointment vote); G1, O Globo, Poder360 and BBC News Brasil, 4 March 2026 (Vorcaro’s second arrest and FGC figures); IMF World Economic Outlook, October 2025.

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