Brazil Election Contender Flavio Bolsonaro Under Investigation in Banco Master Corruption Case
By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA, Sept. 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the leading right-wing challenger to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in next month's election, is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering tied to the failed lender Banco Master, court documents unsealed on Friday show.
The inquiry into the senator, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, was opened in July by Supreme Court Justice Andre Mendonca, a Bolsonaro appointee who has recently drawn praise from many on Brazil's right, including Flavio Bolsonaro himself.
The case lands in an already volatile presidential contest. Several opinion polls show Flavio Bolsonaro and Lula statistically tied in a simulated second-round runoff, meaning even a modest shift in public opinion could alter the race.
Mendonca authorized the investigation at the request of federal police as part of a wider probe into Banco Master. Details only became public after Chief Justice Edson Fachin ordered the proceedings in the Banco Master case unsealed late on Thursday. Mendonca complied, releasing thousands of pages of court records.
What the newly unsealed documents mean for the broader case was not immediately clear. Portions of the investigation, including details concerning Sen. Bolsonaro, remained sealed while police continue active inquiries.
The sprawling Banco Master probe has unsettled Brazilian institutions, touching on alleged ties between banker Daniel Vorcaro and central bank officials, senior government figures, opposition politicians and Supreme Court justices.
For both campaigns, the timing is delicate. The investigation keeps attention on the Bolsonaro family's financial dealings while the wider case threatens to entangle the Supreme Court, giving each side competing narratives of accountability and political persecution.
Probe stems from film financing
The investigation into Flavio Bolsonaro grew out of questions about an investment he allegedly sought from Vorcaro, Banco Master's owner, to help finance "Dark Horse," a film about his father starring U.S. actor Jim Caviezel.
Questions about the film's financing surfaced in May, prompting the senator to acknowledge he had sought financial backing from Vorcaro while denying any wrongdoing. The disclosures cost him support in opinion polls at the time.
The unsealed records show federal police then requested an investigation, authorized by Mendonca, to examine whether the senator committed money laundering, illicit foreign exchange transactions and corruption.
The police report confirms much of a May report by news website The Intercept Brasil that first detailed communications between the senator and Vorcaro up to the banker's first arrest in November 2025.
"Brother, I am and always will be with you," Bolsonaro told the disgraced banker in an audio message at the time, according to the report.
Police said data extracted from Vorcaro's cellphone showed he transferred about $12 million in 2025 to a U.S.-based fund linked to former lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, the senator's brother, who now lives in Texas, as part of efforts to finance the film.
One screenshot included in the documents suggests Eduardo Bolsonaro advised Vorcaro's team on managing the funds in the United States. Investigators are trying to determine the origin of the money, the companies used to channel it and its ultimate beneficiaries.
Flavio Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He and his brother have consistently denied wrongdoing.
Supreme Court crisis
The new disclosures deepen a crisis rattling Brazil as voters enter an unusually tight campaign in which any major development could tip the balance toward either left-wing Lula or Bolsonaro.
Fachin has sought to resolve a public clash between Mendonca and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has also been mentioned in the Banco Master probe, that has pushed the court into one of its most severe internal crises in decades.
Earlier this month, Mendonca released documents from the investigation, including dozens of messages police say Vorcaro sent to Moraes. The disclosures prompted calls for an unprecedented investigation of a sitting Supreme Court justice over allegations that Moraes acted as an adviser to the banker. Moraes responded by accusing Mendonca of abusing his authority.
Fachin scheduled a full-court session for Tuesday, when the court's 10-member bench is expected to discuss allegations about Moraes' relationship with Vorcaro.
'Disclose everything,' says Lula
Sen. Bolsonaro's supporters have tried to link Lula to Moraes, who pursued former President Bolsonaro over a 2023 coup plot and secured his conviction last year.
During Independence Day rallies in Sao Paulo on Monday, a giant inflatable balloon depicting Mendonca towered over crowds gathered to support Bolsonaro's campaign.
Seeking to distance himself from the court crisis, Lula publicly backed unsealing the investigation hours before Fachin's decision. "Whenever there is an allegation involving the judiciary or politics, it should be made public so everyone knows what is happening," he said in an interview with SBT TV on Thursday. "Investigate everything, disclose everything, regardless of who it hurts."
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Alex Richardson, Rod Nickel and Aurora Ellis)