UOL reports that banker Daniel Vorcaro's phone logged 316 interactions with Justice Alexandre de Moraes in the two months before his arrest. Moraes denies any exchange, and the Supreme Court has yet to decide whether to open an investigation into one of its own.
BRASILIA — The phone of banker Daniel Vorcaro, owner of the collapsed Banco Master, logged 316 interactions with Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in the two months before his arrest, according to a new analysis published by the Brazilian news portal UOL. The count covers messages, images, calls and notifications recovered from secondary WhatsApp databases on a device the Federal Police seized on Nov. 17, 2025.
Of the 316 records, 187 are messages sent by Vorcaro to Moraes between Sept. 17 and Nov. 17, 2025. The other 129 are messages attributed to the justice and system notices. The analysis recovered 17 messages on top of the 52 that were already known, which were images of text typed in the phone’s notepad. One message attributed to Moraes, dated Oct. 24, 2025, reads: “Thanks, friend. You can’t even tell it’s not me, lol,” attached to an image that could not be recovered.
What the messages suggest
On Nov. 14, 2025, three days before the phone was seized, a message attributed to Moraes asked Vorcaro to “let me know when you land.” Vorcaro flew that day from São Paulo to Brasília on a private jet. Further messages in the same exchange ask “Did you arrive?” and answer “On the way, then.” UOL says the exchange reinforces the suspicion that the two met. Earlier messages show Vorcaro worried about moves by the Federal Police and the Central Bank, and asking Moraes for help with Attorney General Paulo Gonet or Federal Police chief Andrei Rodrigues. Vorcaro’s bank also signed a contract worth about R$129 million with the law firm of Moraes’s wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, a deal this newspaper has covered in connection with the firm’s reach.
Why it matters
Moraes is the justice who has acted for years as investigator, prosecutor and judge in cases against critics of the Lula regime, with orders that have also reached American platforms and their users. A justice with that much power, linked by a Federal Police analysis to the owner of a bank that collapsed, is a question for anyone who invests in Brazil or depends on its courts. It also fits a pattern we have documented: the institutions that should check power answer to the people they are supposed to check.
The record
What is reported: UOL’s count, the dates and the “probable reading” of the messages, rebuilt from fragments. Not all content could be recovered. What is disputed: Moraes denies trading messages with Vorcaro and says the dialogues did not exist. In a filing to the Supreme Court he called the claims “absurd inferences” and said the Federal Police report is revenge for his role in the coup cases. He and Vorcaro’s defense both question the phone’s chain of custody, and the defense called the police report false. Neither responded to UOL’s request for comment on the new analysis. What is not established: the content of any meeting, and any finding of wrongdoing by a court.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the relationship between the banker and the justice and could decide this year whether to open an investigation. That is the whole procedure: the court of which Moraes is a member decides whether to look at Moraes. No investigation has been opened, no explanation beyond a denial has been offered, and the same justice keeps ruling on cases that can send critics of the Lula regime to jail. In a country where the judiciary is the last stop for accountability, a case like this one that goes nowhere is what shows the rule of law has stopped working.
The Watch Post Daily will continue to follow this story. Sources: UOL analysis of the phone of Daniel Vorcaro; Federal Police report; statements by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to the Supreme Court.
Featured image: Fachada do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) by Agência Senado, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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