Brazil Federal Police Detail Ibaneis Rocha Role in BRB Bank Scandal
Federal Police reports sent to the STF reveal direct political interference by former Governor Ibaneis Rocha in a failed multi-billion-real bank acquisition.
New investigative reports from the Brazil Federal Police sent to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) reveal "direct action" by former Federal District Governor Ibaneis Rocha to facilitate a failed acquisition. The documents, made public in October 2026, detail how Rocha bypassed public governance structures to orchestrate a multi-billion-real bailout of the struggling private institution, Banco Master, using the resources of the state-controlled Banco de Brasília (BRB).
According to recovered text messages, critical operational decisions were approved by Rocha before being presented to BRB's formal governance boards. The Federal Police report, which spans 72 pages, indicates that Rocha’s actions went far beyond his institutional authority as governor. Investigators allege he directly authorized capital increases, defined expansion strategies, and coordinated with private actors to push the deal forward. The Federal Police noted that this structure of decision-making subordinated public interest, impersorality, and administrative morality to specific private interests.
The political and financial fallout of the deal has already severely impacted the Federal District. Between late 2024 and early 2025, BRB purchased BRL 9.52 billion in credit portfolios from Banco Master prior to the private bank's eventual central bank liquidation. The transaction left BRB with massive losses, estimated at BRL 8.8 billion, forcing the local government to structure a BRL 6.5 billion recapitalization plan in mid-2026 to restore the state bank's liquidity.
The investigation has already led to severe legal consequences for the key operators. Former BRB president Paulo Henrique Costa and Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro are currently jailed at the Papudinha prison in Brasília. Federal Police reports trace the origin of the deal to a secret meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, in January 2025, where Rocha, Costa, and Vorcaro allegedly mapped out the acquisition strategy months before it was officially announced.
Rocha, who stepped down from his governorship in March 2026 to run for a seat in the Federal Senate, has denied any wrongdoing. In an official statement, his defense team asserted that the former governor did not exert pressure or have any direct interference in BRB's operations. The defense argued that Costa maintained full autonomy to run the bank and described the interactions between Rocha and the bank president as natural, institutional communications.
What it touches
The ongoing investigation directly impacts the state-controlled Banco de Brasília (BRB), which is publicly traded on the Brazilian B3 exchange under the ticker BSLI3. While the bank is not widely held by foreign retail investors, its deep financial distress and the subsequent multi-billion-real local government bailout expose the broader risks of political interference in Brazil's state-owned financial institutions.