LatinNews Daily - 12 February 2026

*Brazil’s federal police (PF), which is investigating the alleged fraud of the collapsed bank Banco Master, has formally requested the removal of supreme court (STF) justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli from his role as the case’s presiding judge. According to reports in the media, the PF recently found messages on the confiscated phone of Banco Master’s CEO, Daniel Vorcaro, which mentioned Dias Toffoli’s name. Although the exact contents of the messages remain under court seal, the PF seems to have deemed it strong enough evidence to submit a request to STF president Edson Fachin that Dias Toffoli be taken off the case. For months, since the start of the fraud probe in November, there have been concerns over Dias Toffoli’s impartiality. Shortly after being assigned as the judge to oversee the investigations in November, Dias Toffoli flew on a private jet to Peru to watch the final of the Copa Libertadores football tournament and was accompanied by a defence lawyer of a Banco Master executive. Other media outlets have reported that Dias Toffoli and his family had investments and assets indirectly tied to the wider network of Vorcaro and Banco Master, such as a holiday resort in Paraná state which his brothers, through a family-owned company, co-owned in partnership with an investment fund connected to Banco Master, before selling their stake last year to another associate of Vorcaro.

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