The biggest scandal rattling Brazilian politics is by far that of Banco Master — a mid-sized lender that was liquidated by the Central Bank due to fraud. The bank is suspected of having ties to criminal organizations and its CEO, Daniel Vorcaro (who was arrested on Wednesday), was dangerously close to many high-profile figures. It is quickly becoming the most serious test of the country’s institutions in at least a decade.
The scandal has, at least so far, been a right-wing affair. The lawmakers who championed Master's interests in Congress hail from the conservative camp, while Vorcaro's brother-in-law — an evangelical pastor — was one of the largest donors to former President Jair Bolsonaro's and São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas’s 2022 campaigns. The individual alleged to have brokered ties between Banco Master and a sitting Supreme Court justice was himself a former Bolsonaro cabinet official.
The left is not entirely absent from the picture, however. Former Finance Minister Guido Mantega and former Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski both held consulting contracts with Vorcaro, worth millions.
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