Former president of public bank in Brazil detained in corruption scandal

This Thursday, April 16, the Brazilian Federal Police arrested the former president of Banco de Brasília (BRB) Paulo Henrique Costa, suspected of corruption and money laundering in the purchase of Banco Master.

The arrest is part of the new phase of Operation Compliance Zero, which investigates a scheme to embezzle Master’s resources through multimillion-dollar operations involving fraudulent wallet purchases.

The investigators identified that the public bank executive had received six luxury properties valued at 146 million reais (24.7 million euros) to circumvent BRB’s internal rules, by allowing business with the Master without guarantees.

In a statement to the local press, the defense of the former BRB president considered the arrest “unnecessary” and stated that they will examine the decision to take action.

According to the PF, BRB carried out inconsistent operations with Banco Master in an attempt to provide relief to Daniel Vorcaro’s financial institution, while the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) analyzed the bank’s sale proposal.

Paulo Henrique Costa became president of the BRB in 2019 and led the attempt to purchase Banco Master, liquidated by the BC in November 2025.

The executive was removed from command of the public bank by court decision and ended up being fired in November by the then governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), after the first phase of the PF operation.

The person who was also arrested today was lawyer Daniel Monteiro, identified by investigators as “legal architect” and trusted man of Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Master.

The lawyer was the one who represented Master in negotiations with BRB.

Monteiro was responsible for managing the funds and accounts that Vorcaro allegedly used to divert Banco Master’s own resources to bribe politicians and authorities.

Daniel Vorcaro is in pre-trial detention and is negotiating a judicial collaboration agreement to confess his responsibility for these irregularities and identify his accomplices.

The possible agreement has generated great expectations, given that investigations point to suspicious relationships between Vorcaro and several politicians and even members of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).