Brazil’s Bank Master collapsed in November 2025 when the Central Bank liquidated it over serious regulatory violations. The president of the private bank, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested days later attempting to flee the country. Investigators say Vorcaro ran a Ponzi-like scheme built on fraudulent financial products, using new investors’ money to cover old debts while diverting funds through shell companies. The case has since expanded to reveal political corruption, an armed enforcement wing, and alleged ties to Brazil’s largest gang, the PCC.
To help readers navigate the scandal’s many players, here’s a who’s who in the Bank Master investigation, which was known as Operation Zero Compliance:
The Bankers
Top executives at Bank Master reeled in small investors with seemingly lucrative opportunities. Executives at other banks that help back up the fraud.
Daniel Vorcaro: The president of Bank Master, Vorcaro was allegedly the mastermind in the complex money laundering and fraud network, according to the police. He also oversaw a private militia, as well as the bribing of politicians, and laundering the profits.
Paulo Henrique Costa: President of the Bank of Brasilia (Banco de Brasília – BRB), Costa was arrested and accused of working with Vorcaro to create and sell $2.4 billion (R$12.2 billion) in fake credit portfolios. Two weeks before Bank Master’s collapse, he attempted to use BRB to buy Bank Master, in a move that was vetoed by Brazil’s Central Bank.
Vorcaro and Costa allegedly set up front companies and purchased real estate to move and hide illicit funds.
Augusto Ferreira Lima: Lima, Bank Master’s then-chief executive is accused of bribing several politicians in Brazil’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies. In exchange, they allegedly pushed for legislation changes Bank Master executives wanted, awarded the bank public contracts, and tipped off Lima when authorities started getting suspicious.
The Politicians
These individuals allegedly helped Bank Master achieve its criminal goals.
Ciro Nogueira: Senator Nogueira, who served as former-President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, is accused of receiving about $58,000 (R$ 300,000) a month from Vorcaro, as well as luxury trips abroad and other perks, in exchange for pushing for legislative changes that favored Bank Master, according to court documents.
Jaques Wagner: Senator Wagner, who was President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s appointed top ally in Brazil’s Federal Senate when allegations surfaced, is on the opposite side of the political aisle to the above. Accusations paint a long-standing personal relationship between Wagner and Bank Master CEO Augusto Lima.
Lima allegedly bought Wagner’s apartment and transferred money to businesses owned by members of Wagner’s family, besides pushing through an amendment to legislation he proposed in 2022, allegedly at the behest of Lima.
Cláudio Castro: Rio de Janeiro’s former governor, Castro is accused of having a close personal relationship with Vorcaro, and using his political power to keep Bank Master’s scams going. RioPrevidência, Rio de Janeiro’s social security system, invested around $385 million (R$ 2.01 billion) in Bank Master under Castro—even as the bank’s liquidity crisis was becoming apparent.
Castro resigned as governor on March 23, 2026, and the next day, Brazil’s Electoral Supreme Court (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral – TSE) barred him from holding office for eight years, after being found guilty in a separate case. The court found he had abused his power and committed illegal fundraising during the 2022 election. The investigation into his involvement with Bank Master is ongoing.
The Gangsters
Investigations uncovered links to other criminals, from hackers and militias to Brazil’s largest criminal organization.
The Crew
Police accuse Vorcaro of running a criminal group called The Crew (called “A Turma” in Portuguese), which included several active and retired police officers and was used to watch and intimidate perceived threats and rivals.
Henrique Moura Vorcaro: The father of Daniel Vorcaro, Henrique Moura Vorcaro, is accused of running the criminal group alongside his son to carry out “threats, in-person intimidation, coercion, clandestine abductions, the acquisition of classified information, and unauthorized access to government systems,” according to the police. He is also said to have acted as the scheme’s financial operator, making transfers to finance the Crew.
Luiz Phillipi de Moraes Mourão: The alleged head of the Crew, and known by the nickname “Sicário,” Mourão took his own life in a jail cell after being arrested as part of Operation Zero Compliance in March 2026.
Marilson Roseno da Silva: A retired federal police officer, Silva is accused of accessing and monitoring restricted databases such as ePol, which holds information for ongoing investigations involving the Federal Police and Public Prosecutors’ office. Authorities believe that Silva, along with other retired officers, used his connections to active duty officers to get information about potential investigations into Vorcaro and dig up dirt on his enemies.
Manoel Mendes Rodrigues: Accused of leading a well-armed paramilitary wing, Rodrigues also ran a Jogo do Bicho family clan. Jogo do Bicho is a popular illegal gambling operation and criminal economy that has involved mafias in Rio de Janeiro going back decades. As the investigations into Bank Master heated up, Rodrigues and other members of the Crew allegedly gathered information about key witnesses and their families, before paying them visits and threatening their lives should they cooperate with the police.
The Boys
While the Crew focused on physical operations, the Boys (Os Meninos) are accused of running cyber-ops.
David Henrique Alves: He allegedly ran the technical operations, according to court documents, recruiting hackers to go after targets who were investigating Vorcaro or raising suspicion around Bank Master’s activities. The group specialized in “carrying out cyberattacks, hacking, taking down social media accounts, and illegal telephone and telecommunications surveillance,” according to Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court.
SEE ALSO: Cryptocurrency Money Laundering Is on the Rise in Brazil
The First Capital Command
The scandal is entwined with the prison gang that has become Brazil’s largest criminal organization: the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC).
The main connection so far is an investment firm, Reag Trust DTVM, that police believe is a laundering front for the PCC. The firm invested more than $230 million (R$1.2 billion) in Bank Master bank certificates of deposit. Meanwhile, authorities say that Vorcaro was using several shell companies to lend money and buy fictitious investments through Reag. These transactions propped up Bank Master and made it look more valuable than it was.
A similar firm, the Galo Forte Multi-Strategy Equity Investment Fund (Galo Forte Fundo de Investimento em Participações Multiestratégia), is also under investigation for laundering PCC money, according to local outlet G1. Vorcaro allegedly used the fund to buy part of the team Atlético-MG Soccer Corporation (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol do Atlético-MG).
One of the PCC’s laundering specialists, Dante Felipini, alias Cryptoboy, used Bank Master for his operations. Felipini was convicted in 2025 of laundering money for the PCC and their European allies, the ‘Ndrangheta.
*This is the second part of a three-part series detailing the massive Bank Master fraud case in Brazil. Read the first and third parts here and here.
