Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) was consumed by a deepening institutional crisis today, centered on allegations of improper ties between one of its most powerful Justices and a disgraced banker, which threatens to undermine the court’s authority ahead of a highly polarized presidential election. The latest flashpoint involves a scandal surrounding the collapsed Banco Master, which has expanded into an unprecedented conflict between the country’s top judicial and law enforcement bodies. The crisis escalated when the National Association of Federal Police Delegates (ADPF) formally sought the recusal of Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet in the probe, following Gonet’s request to annul a Federal Police report detailing communications between the bank’s controlling shareholder, Daniel Vorcaro, and STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Gonet, whose name also appears in the communications, is seeking to void the report on procedural grounds, while the police claim they were merely following a judicial order, underscoring the severity of the rift between the Federal Police, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Supreme Court itself. This is not the first judicial casualty of the scandal, as Justice Dias Toffoli previously recused himself from the case after reports surfaced of alleged financial links to the banker.