Supreme Court Orders a Second Raid in the Dark Horse Money Case

BRASILIA — The Federal Police carried out the second phase of Operation Make Up on Friday, Nov. 13, serving one search-and-seizure warrant in Brasília, issued by the Supreme Court, in an investigation into whether congressional earmarks were diverted to finance Dark Horse, the biopic about former president Jair Bolsonaro, according to Revista Oeste. CNN Brasil and Metrópoles columnist Mirelle Pinheiro report that the target is a suspect who could not be found during the first phase. The police statement does not name the person.

The first phase came on Sept. 10, in the middle of the election campaign: 49 search warrants in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ceará and the Federal District, authorized by Justice Flávio Dino and carried out with the federal Comptroller General (CGU). The targets included Rep. Mario Frias (PL-SP), whom Revista Oeste identifies as the film’s executive producer, and Karina Ferreira da Gama, owner of the production company Go Up Entertainment. Estadão reports that Frias sent R$2 million in earmarks to the Instituto Conhecer Brasil, an entity presided over by Karina. Both deny wrongdoing. Frias calls the operation a “smokescreen,” and Karina told CNN Brasil, “There is no earmark for Dark Horse.”

Why it matters

Dark Horse is the film actor Jim Caviezel accused the Lula regime of censoring, and its financing now touches the Banco Master scandal that has already reached the Supreme Court’s own circle. For U.S. readers, the point is institutional: because Frias is a sitting congressman, the case sits at the Supreme Court, where the justice who signs the warrants also supervises the file. A court is policing the money behind the biography of the opposition’s patriarch, and the public has seen only the part of the file that Dino unsealed on Sept. 13.

What investigators describe

According to the Federal Police, as reported by Metrópoles, there are signs of a criminal organization of public and private agents that routed part of the money to subcontracted companies with no proof the services were delivered. Estadão reports a circular flow among the lawmaker, the entities, the contracted firms and Go Up that totaled R$19 million in November and December 2025. Metrópoles adds that attempts to disguise the diversion continued until July. The crimes under investigation are embezzlement, falsified documents, money laundering, criminal organization and bid-rigging.

A second front, under Justice André Mendonça, concerns money from Banco Master’s Daniel Vorcaro. On Sept. 9, Mendonça approved the plea deal of money changer Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior, known as Mineiro, who described seven transfers totaling $12.3 million to Heavengate Development, in Texas, between January and September 2025. By his account, Vorcaro made them at the request of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost the October runoff to Lula. Flávio denies any quid pro quo. Karina says she never took part in the fund and that the film’s budget, which fell from $24 million to $13.3 million, was entirely private.

The record

Confirmed: the second phase, the single warrant in Brasília issued by the Supreme Court, the first phase of Sept. 10 and its targets, and the R$2 million in earmarks to the institute. Alleged: the diversion of public money, the criminal organization and the link between Vorcaro’s money and the film. The last claim rests on Mineiro’s plea, and as Revista Oeste notes, approving a plea deal does not prove what the informant says. The reports reviewed mention no indictment.

Critics of the court describe a pattern in which cases touching the Bolsonaro camp move fast, and the court that signs the warrants also hears the case. Whether Make Up is different depends on what the public has not yet seen: charges, evidence in the open, and the same pace applied to earmarks from the ruling coalition.

The Watch Post Daily will continue to follow this story. Sources: Revista Oeste, CNN Brasil, Metrópoles, Estadão.

Featured image: Mario Frias by Câmara dos Deputados, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.