Brazil STF Crisis Deepens as Justice Zanin Demands Full Access to Banker’s Cell Phone Data Ahead of Vote on Moraes Case

Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Cristiano Zanin has demanded that the Federal Police (PF) deliver a complete copy of the cell phone data belonging to former banker Daniel Vorcaro to his cabinet, escalating a dramatic internal conflict at Brazil’s highest court ahead of a critical plenary vote. The highly unusual order from Zanin, a former lawyer for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a recent appointee to the STF, was issued just hours before the court was scheduled to deliberate on the investigation involving his colleague, Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Zanin stated that access to the full data, which includes messages allegedly showing interactions between Vorcaro and Moraes, is necessary for him to "form his conviction" before the full court session on Tuesday, which is set to address the institutional crisis sparked by the probe. The data was seized during "Operation Compliance Zero," the PF investigation into what has been described as the country’s largest-ever banking fraud, involving Vorcaro's defunct Banco Master and the state-owned Banco de Brasília (BRB).

At the core of the judicial tension are the contents of Vorcaro's cell phone, which reportedly contain messages and metadata suggesting Moraes was directly involved in reviewing a R$131 million contract between Banco Master and a law firm belonging to his wife. The revelation has created an unprecedented level of scrutiny and procedural friction within the STF.

The procedural conflict is primarily between Zanin and Justice André Mendonça, the current rapporteur for related investigations, who had previously released only a portion of the material and has opposed the full disclosure, citing the risk of compromising the ongoing PF investigation. By directly ordering the PF to deliver the entire contents, Zanin bypassed the standard internal procedure, signaling that the need for judicial transparency and full evidence disclosure supersedes the usual caution around evidence handling.

The vote scheduled for Tuesday before the STF plenary, which is the full court, is expected to address key procedural issues surrounding the evidence and the investigation’s future. The outcome is critical: a decision to invalidate the evidence or halt the probe would bring the high-stakes investigation to a premature close, while a move to validate the evidence would set the stage for one of the most politically sensitive judicial inquiries in recent Brazilian history. The public conflict over evidence handling underscores the institutional instability and lack of procedural clarity currently affecting the stf brazil news cycle.