Banco do Nordeste announced that it has unilaterally terminated its agreement with EntrePay , amid complaints from merchants about delays in the transfer of funds from sales made through the company's payment terminals and indications of changes in the structures of receivables funds, as reported by NeoFeed .
In a statement, the bank informed that, as a precautionary measure, it also ordered the immediate suspension of services provided by Entrepay, prohibiting the issuance of new authorizations, transactions, or operations with cards linked to the partnership.
The institution also stated that it will continue to adopt "all applicable administrative, contractual, and operational measures to safeguard its interests and ensure the continuity of its services" and that it is evaluating "alternatives for a future replacement of the partnership."
"The Bank clarifies that activities related to the settlement of transactions are part of the dynamics of regulated payment arrangements, involving the acquiring bank and the respective card brands, in accordance with current regulations, while reserving the right to investigate liabilities in the contractual, regulatory and judicial spheres," says an excerpt from the statement.
Contacted by NeoFeed , EntrePay stated that it had been informed of the decision and would respect the established contractual terms, following the matter in dialogue with the parties involved.
"The company emphasizes that, over the past few years, the partnership with Banco do Nordeste has been marked by institutional cooperation and the joint development of solutions aimed at financial organization and strengthening the activities of micro-entrepreneurs served by the institution," says an excerpt from the statement.
EntrePay maintained a partnership with Banco do Nordeste to offer card payment terminals to borrowers of the CrediAmigo program, a microcredit program for small businesses that includes approximately 2 million participants.
NeoFeed has learned that the company has been the target of constant complaints related to delays in payments since the beginning of the month. Of the 42 complaints the company received on the Reclame Aqui platform in one year, 36 were made starting in January.
The delays coincide with investigations by the Federal Police (PF) into alleged links between businessman Antonio Carlos Freixo Júnior, CEO of Grupo Entre, which controls EntrePay, and suspected fraud committed by Banco Master and significant changes in FIDCs (Investment Funds in Credit Rights) that held EntrePay as the assignor of the credits.
In January of this year, the businessman was also the target of a search and seizure operation in Operation Compliance Zero, along with Julia Grasiela de Oliveira Freixo, co-founder and legal director of Grupo Entre, Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Master, João Carlos Mansur, of Reag , and Maurício Quadrado, of Trustee.
NeoFeed identified, based on data provided by the Uqbar platform, four Investment Funds in Credit Rights ( FIDCs ) that had EntrePay as a significant assignor in their portfolios: Rover FIDC, Moriah FIDC (which later became Sinai Multi), FIDC Garson, and Garson Card.
Since December of last year, these FIDCs have undergone a series of changes in their structures, such as changes in administrator and manager, name changes, and the inclusion, in regulations, of new risk factors related to the assignors of the invested credits.
Founded in 2016, the Entre group has grown through the acquisition of payment and credit companies, consolidating an ecosystem that it claims brings together around 26 companies and approximately 700 employees – although the company's LinkedIn profile only lists about ten directly related individuals.
The Vorcaro family's ties to the Entre Group are not recent. Daniel Vorcaro and Freixo Júnior are jointly facing a lawsuit filed in 2020 by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) to investigate potential fraud related to the third issuance of shares in the Brazil Realty fund.
The shares were subscribed by Master and partially paid for with assets that, according to an investigation by the CVM's Superintendency of Registrations (SRE), had fraudulent valuation reports.
Among the assets is a plot of land in the city of Contagem, Minas Gerais, registered in the name of a company headed by Natalia Bueno Vorcaro Zettel, sister of Daniel Vorcaro and wife of Fabiano Zettel .
