Story
Nov 13, 2026
Prosecutors seek to keep Vorcaro jailed as defense calls detention political
The dispute over Daniel Vorcaro’s detention turns on competing assessments of risk and due process: prosecutors say the Banco Master inquiry remains vulnerable, while his defense argues that a lengthy pretrial custody has outlasted its legal justification and been handled through an improper court procedure.
Daniel Vorcaro, the former controller of Banco Master, has been held in pretrial detention since March 4 as investigators examine transactions involving the bank and the Bank of Brasília (BRB). The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) has urged the Supreme Federal Court to keep him detained, while his lawyers argue that the measure is unlawful and no longer supported by the evidence.1
Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet’s position rests on the scale and unfinished nature of the inquiry. The PGR cited risks to public order, the investigation and enforcement of criminal law, pointing to multiple suspects, outstanding expert examinations and a partial Federal Police report. It also cited allegations of an operational group seeking to recruit public officials and obtain confidential data, as well as concerns that investigative steps could be anticipated or obstructed.1
Vorcaro’s defense counters that prosecutors are relying on new grounds after the original rationale for detention—alleged intimidation and threats—was not confirmed, in the lawyers’ view. “Instead of objectively addressing these questions, the Prosecutor ignored the grounds of the detention order and tries to add others,” the defense said, referring to the police report and indictment related to Banco Master’s financial operations.1
The lawyers also reject the idea that custody should answer public expectations: “A citizen’s freedom cannot be sacrificed to satisfy public opinion. Pretrial detention is not an instrument of political communication or an advance punishment.”1 They say Vorcaro has spent nearly nine months detained without a criminal trial or conviction.
A separate defense filing has shifted attention to procedure at the Supreme Court. It asks Chief Justice Edson Fachin to stop handling the release request and send it to senior Justice Gilmar Mendes, or to the full court. The lawyers call the presidency’s retention of the Banco Master case an “unacceptable exceptional judgment,” arguing that the case should return to Justice André Mendonça, its originally assigned rapporteur.2
The contrast is sharp: the PGR portrays detention as a safeguard for a complex, active investigation; the defense portrays it as an excessive restriction compounded by an unresolved dispute over who should decide Vorcaro’s request for release.