A former brother-in-law of Gilmar Mendes admitted to a contract with Daniel Vorcaro while cases over medical courses moved forward

An investigation published by Folha de S.Paulo reported that businessman Francisco Feitosa, known as Chiquinho and the former brother-in-law of Supreme Federal Court justice Gilmar Mendes, was hired in 2024 by Daniel Vorcaro and handled matters involving the owner of Banco Master linked to private universities.

According to that outlet, conversations between Vorcaro and a phone attributed to Feitosa lasted at least from April 2024 to June 2025, during a period in which Mendes was rapporteur in cases before the Supreme Court on the opening of new medical courses. Vorcaro’s phone was seized in a Federal Police investigation.

According to the publication, Feitosa confirmed in a note that he signed a contract with Super Empreendimentos, a company under Federal Police investigation for allegedly operating as a channel for Vorcaro’s payments to a private militia and also to public agents. However, he denied acting to bring Vorcaro closer to Gilmar Mendes and said the consultancy lasted a “short period.” He also said he was not hired to promote ties between people or with the magistrate.

Folha said the conversations point to a negotiation, in September 2024, for a contract of 500,000 reais per month for Feitosa’s services, in addition to an initial extra payment of 800,000 reais. The businessman did not disclose the amounts or the tasks when responding to the newspaper.

Still according to Folha de S.Paulo, the messages include references to dealings with the Ministry of Education. In one of them, it reads: “MEC: Andando na velocidade esperada”. There are also mentions of attempts to arrange meetings and of agendas the consultant would have had with Camilo Santana, then minister of Education, although without specifying what topics would have been discussed. Camilo said he did not receive requests from Vorcaro through Feitosa and that he would never act against the basic principles of public administration.

The newspaper added that in August 2024 the interlocutor on the phone attributed to Feitosa sent a document identified as an MEC document with the title “padrão decisório cursos de medicina”. Months earlier, Vorcaro had shared with that interlocutor a contact supposedly linked to Ulbra, a university in which Master held stakes. Feitosa told the outlet that he met with a person indicated by Vorcaro linked to that institution “with the objective” of hearing her, and said the MEC document was public and was on the university’s website.

The note also mentions messages in which the user of the phone attributed to Feitosa advised Vorcaro to approach Gilmar Mendes during an event in London. Another conversation, from the following month, would indicate that he was having dinner with Mendes and Cristiano Zanin and had spoken with them about matters “of our interest.” Feitosa denied having been with Zanin and said that does not appear in any message sent from his phone.

For his part, Mendes stated through his office, according to Folha, that he never discussed with Vorcaro or Feitosa any matter linked to the Ministry of Education and that in the case on new courses he voted in favor of the government and not the universities. The judge and Guiomar, Feitosa’s sister and Mendes’s former wife, announced their divorce in November 2025.

Folha also recalled that Mônica Bergamo’s column had revealed a meeting between Vorcaro and Mendes on April 11, 2024, in which the businessman sought to have the magistrate vote in favor of a multimillion-dollar dispute in the sugar-alcohol sector that benefited him. In the end, Mendes voted against that position.

Sources

• Folha de S.Paulo

About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this fact.