STF Authorizes Federal Police to Seek Vorcaro’s Assets Abroad

Overview

• STF minister André Mendonça cleared the Federal Police to use international mutual legal assistance mechanisms, a decision reported late Tuesday and aimed at expanding the Banco Master investigation beyond Brazil.
• The police have filed at least two cooperation requests, the first made in May and already authorized by Mendonça, and a second filed in July that is still awaiting a formal opinion from the Prosecutor General's Office.
• One May request seeks help from Germany and other countries to locate and block a yacht valued at about R$500 million that investigators say Vorcaro ordered before his first arrest.
• The STF authorization only permits use of MLAT and related channels and does not itself freeze or seize foreign assets; the Ministry of Justice’s DRCI must transmit specific requests and foreign authorities decide on preservation or seizure.
• The move builds on Operation Compliance Zero, which probes alleged irregular CDB issuance and money concealment, and comes as investigators cite offshore transfers possibly exceeding US$100 million, Vorcaro remains in custody, and a U.S. civil suit by the Master liquidator pursues parallel asset tracing.