São Paulo, Brazil — Brazilian Supreme Court Justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli on Thursday recused himself from a case involving Banco Master, for which he was the rapporteur. The bank allegedly attempted to sell US$2.43 billion in falsified loan portfolios to the state-owned BRB bank in Brasília.
Toffoli’s recusal occurred on the same day that Brazilian media reported that the judge was named in a Federal Police investigation as someone who exchanged messages with Daniel Vorcaro, the bank’s disgraced former president. The banker’s cell phone had been seized by the police.
The recusal was confirmed in a press release signed by justices who make up Brazil’s highest court, the Supreme Federal Court.
According to the statement, Toffoli requested to be recused.
“They also note that, at the request of Minister Dias Toffoli, taking into account his prerogative to submit matters to the Presidency of the Court for the proper conduct of proceedings and considering the high institutional interests, the Presidency of the Supreme Federal Court, after hearing all the Ministers, accepts His Excellency’s communication regarding the referral of the respective cases under his Relatorship so that the Presidency may promote their free redistribution,” the statement read.
The text, however, also expresses the ministers’ support for what they called the “full validity of the acts performed by Minister Dias Toffoli in the rapporteurship” of the case.
“They express, in this act, their personal support for His Excellency Minister Dias Toffoli, respecting His Excellency’s dignity, as well as the absence of suspicion or impediment. It should be noted that His Excellency complied with all requests made by the Federal Police (PF) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR),” the statement adds.
The case’s rapporteur will now be Minister André Mendonça, appointed by former President Jair Bolsonaro in 2021.
Financial scandal
Banco Master was liquidated by the Central Bank of Brazil in November 2025. Master traded CDBs (Certificates of Deposit) with very high return rates, far below what was offered in the financial market.
According to the Federal Police, however, the credit portfolios did not exist.
The issue involving the alleged involvement of Dias Toffoli in the case has been publicized for months, ever since an article in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo revealed that the minister was a friend of one of the bank’s lawyers and that he traveled with him on a private jet in November 2025 to attend the Copa Libertadores soccer final in Lima, Peru, as a fan of one of the finalist teams, Palmeiras.
Later, more reports emerged linking the minister’s name and his family to people connected to the scandal.
The central link is Madrit, a company owned by Toffoli’s family that, according to Brazilian press reports, received millions of reais from an investment fund whose main shareholder was Daniel Vorcaro’s brother-in-law.
On Thursday morning, Justice Dias Toffoli’s office released a statement to the press confirming that he is a partner in the company that sold the resort, but denied any payments to Vorcaro and Banco Master.
Featured image: Supreme Court Justices Dias Toffoli during the opening of the 2026 Judicial Year of the Supreme Federal Court (STF). Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
