By Camilo Diniz
The phone of Brazilian banker Daniel Vorcaro holds 316 records of contact with Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's highest court. A review of the device brought to light 17 messages that were not previously known, including an attempt to meet in Brasília three days before the banker's arrest, as well as requests for help. So far, nothing proves those requests were answered.
A flight, two messages and an unanswered question
On November 14, 2025, Vorcaro flew from São Paulo to Brasília on a private plane. At 1:24 p.m., Moraes wrote: "Let me know when you land." The banker answered "Ok" and then "In flight." Later, the justice asked: "Did you arrive?" and Vorcaro replied: "Just landed now." At 2:46 p.m. came the line that feeds suspicion: "On my way, then."
The material supports the hypothesis of a meeting but does not prove by itself that it took place. The exchange shows movement, timing and travel, but not what was said face to face.
Two days earlier, on November 12, the conversation took a personal tone. Moraes wrote: "It's not enough to be a father, you have to take part lol." Vorcaro answered: "You're a great dad" and asked him to send his regards to everyone. The night before, the businessman had already tried to set up a meeting: "Hey, how are you? Tomorrow night, how does it look?" The next day he backed off: "I don't want to disturb family plans! We can talk another day!"
Requests for help and names mentioned
Data already known showed that Vorcaro asked Moraes to try to "reverse this with Paulo [Gonet] or Andrei [Rodrigues]", referring to the prosecutor-general and to the director-general of the Federal Police (PF). In another message, the banker wrote that if Andrei Rodrigues could delay the situation until the following week, because of a holiday, "the bank won't collapse."
On the eve of the arrest, Vorcaro asked whether there was "any chance of this happening tomorrow morning" and whether Moraes "thinks that by Monday I already have to be out."
According to the review, the messages show an attempt to obtain information about the authorities' measures and to avoid an impact on the bank. Even so, they do not prove that the justice replied or acted accordingly.
The relationship, according to the information gathered, dates to December 2023, when the businessman hired the law firm of Viviane Barci de Moraes for about R$ 130 million (Brazilian reais).
Moraes' denial and Vorcaro's defense
In earlier statements to the Supreme Court, Moraes denied the authenticity of the dialogues. "The absurd insinuations, which were publicized as ALLEGED DIALOGUES between Daniel Vorcaro and Minister Alexandre de Moraes, SIMPLY DID NOT EXIST," he wrote. He added: "THEY WERE NOT FOUND IN ANY CONVERSATION ON WHATZAAP (sic)." Moraes also spoke of "REVENGE" and of an attempt at retaliation for his role in cases tied to the attempted coup.
Vorcaro's defense takes a different path. It questions the chain of custody of the device seized by the Federal Police and raises doubts about whether the data was preserved. Some messages appeared with words out of order, which required reconstructing how they were read. In one example, the sequence "bem opa tudo" was interpreted as "Opa tudo bem?"
Of the 316 records, only 69 had their content recovered: 52 were already known to the Federal Police and 17 surfaced now.
Why it matters
Moraes is one of the most powerful figures in Brazil's judiciary and has led cases involving the attempted coup. The case is now under review at the STF, which is expected to decide in 2026 whether to open an investigation into the contacts between the justice and the banker. The story therefore raises a question about the independence and credibility of the country's highest court.
The case is not settled by what is on the table. There are contacts, requests, an attempted meeting and a categorical denial from the justice. What decides the size of the damage is what the STF does in the coming months.
VDD Analysis
When a justice of the country's highest court appears on a phone with more than three hundred contacts with a banker under investigation, the question is not one of political color but of institutional trust. Moraes denies it, and the presumption of innocence applies to him. But the courts must answer the doubts with full transparency, so that citizens do not have to rely only on the word of someone at the center of the case.
