By Indianara Goz
Justice André Mendonça, of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), has taken over the investigation into the leak and sale of confidential information about justices of the court itself. The change of lead justice (the relator) was decided by a random draw on October 29. It changes who runs a case that touches the inner workings of the Brazilian judiciary and the security of taxpayer data in the country.
Mendonça replaces Moraes as lead justice
The inquiry was opened by Justice Alexandre de Moraes in December 2025. It now passes to Mendonça, who becomes responsible for conducting it from here on. The investigation is still ongoing.
What Operation Exfil is investigating
Operation Exfil seeks to establish how information protected by tax secrecy was allegedly accessed in the systems of the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) and the Council for Financial Activities Control (Coaf). According to the investigation, the scheme involved obtaining and selling sensitive data about magistrates.
The agencies named hold exactly the kind of information that citizens are required by law to hand over to the state, and that is supposed to be shielded. It is that vault that is now under suspicion.
The businessman at the center. Among the main targets is businessman Marcelo Conde. According to information from the Federal Police (PF), he allegedly supplied lists of CPFs (the Brazilian taxpayer ID numbers) and made payments of R$ 4,500 (Brazilian reais) to obtain tax returns of people named in advance.
The PF data therefore point to a possible mechanism with an order, a list of targets and payment per document. The material available does not yet fully identify those involved, and that is what the investigation needs to clarify.
What comes next
With Mendonça as lead justice, the focus will be on uncovering the mechanisms used to access the protected data and identifying every participant in the scheme to sell it. Who accessed the data, who authorized it, who paid and who profited are the questions that remain open.
Why it matters
The STF is Brazil's highest court, and its justices handle some of the country's most sensitive political and legal cases. The Receita Federal is the national tax authority, and Coaf is the government's financial intelligence unit. Both keep detailed financial records that are protected by law. Any suggestion that such records were accessed and traded raises questions about how well the state protects personal data, whether the person concerned is a Supreme Court justice or an ordinary citizen.
VDD Analysis
The case exposes a weakness that goes beyond the Supreme Court's chambers. If the tax data of justices were accessed and traded in the systems of the Receita and Coaf, ordinary citizens have every reason to ask who is protecting their own confidentiality. Defending privacy and legal certainty, values dear to those who defend freedom, requires an investigation that is transparent, reaches everyone involved and gives the country clear answers.
