In recent days, Brazil has witnessed everything in the Master Case . Daniel Vorcaro 's private parties; meetings with prominent figures in the legislature, ministers, and President Lula; intimate relationships with members of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) such as José Antonio Dias Toffoli and Alexandre de Moraes; and the mafia-like group known as "A Turma" that served as a private militia to intimidate, threaten, and harm anyone who stood in their way.
We got a glimpse of Vorcaro's tentacles, mainly thanks to the work of Lauro Jardim and Malu Gaspar, columnists for O Globo . The WhatsApp messages between him and his ex-girlfriend, Marta Graeff, who always responded with a "Wow!", revealed a Brazil that had been bought off in all spheres of power. But, according to the Federal Police investigations, this is not even 10% of the 100 devices seized that still need to be examined.
The case's rapporteur, Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça , will still have to deal with a lot of information extracted from the phones and hard drives of those under investigation. And one of the most anticipated is not Vorcaro's, but rather that of his operator, the man who made the payments through cascading funds. This is Fabiano Zettel , his brother-in-law and current cellmate. Wow!
Judging by the messages revealed so far, it was Zettel who arranged real estate purchases for "friends" who did favors for Vorcaro. It was Zettel who paid bribes or monthly allowances – Wow! – to the militiamen of "The Gang". Under the guise of an investor at the Moriah Asset management company and the position of church pastor, Zettel made several investments that were, to say the least, strange.
One of the most famous is that of his Leal Private Equity Investment Fund (FIP), which invested in the Arleen fund, which bought a stake in the Tayayá resort, owned by Dias Toffoli's family. A huge real estate deal – Wow! – that only a Midas like him could see. But Midas had other deals that need to be uncovered. Deals with politicians, judges, regulatory agents, and journalists.
The Leal Fund owned Arleen, but it also had two others: FIP B10 and FIP Duke, with suspicious investments and connections. Duke's legal representative was Ramon Pessoa Dantas, one of the main figures investigated in Operation Hidden Carbon , which investigates the connections between the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital, a Brazilian criminal organization) and Faria Lima (a major financial district in São Paulo).
According to the messages, Zettel was also a media operator. He paid bribes to journalists through a "bouncer" known as Luiz Phillipi Machado de Moares Mourão, nicknamed "Sícário" (Hittel's henchman). Zettel also invested in stakes in media outlets, but never announced which ones. Perhaps it's time we found out, even if only through the cell phone messages that are likely to surface.
This Brazil, indeed, is not for amateurs. Wow!
