Seized Messages Show Vorcaro Discussed Hiding His Stake in Bet.Bet

Messages taken from the jailed banker's phone by the Federal Police show Banco Master's legal director telling Daniel Vorcaro he "cannot appear" after the Finance Ministry asked who stood behind a fund that owned part of Bet.Bet, Valor Econômico reports. A dispatcher from Minas Gerais was later named instead.

• Messages extracted by the Federal Police from Daniel Vorcaro's phone show that in late September and early October 2024 he and Luiz Rennó, then legal director of Banco Master, discussed replacing him as the beneficial owner of a fund linked to Bet.Bet, one of Brazil's federally licensed betting brands, Valor Econômico reported on 30 September
• The exchanges began after the Finance Ministry asked who was behind the fund during the licensing process, and include Rennó writing "vc não pode aparecer" (you cannot appear) and "Vc tem que sumir de lá" (you have to disappear from there)
• According to Valor, Vorcaro held 30% of Bet.Bet indirectly through Bet Participações, whose partner was the Oracle private equity fund run by Reag, and documents later given to the ministry named Adriano Garzon Correa, a dispatcher from Nova Lima and Vorcaro's partner in other companies, as the fund's unitholder
• The messages also discuss convertible debentures, "30+5" in November 2024 as the licence approached and, in February 2025, Rennó telling Vorcaro "Saímos da bet!" (we have left the bet)
• The material goes further than the September report that Vorcaro was the real owner of Pixbet, which rested on an associate's claim; Vorcaro's defence did not respond to Times Brasil, which could not reach Rennó's lawyers

Vorcaro's Own Messages Describe the Bet.Bet Stake

The messages come from Vorcaro's phone, extracted by the Federal Police in the investigation into Banco Master, the bank the Central Bank liquidated in November 2025, and were obtained by Valor Econômico, which published them on 30 September. All of what follows is drawn from Valor's account of the messages and is alleged; none of it has been tested in court. Vorcaro, who founded Banco Master, is in preventive custody.

According to Valor, references to Bet.Bet begin in July 2024, when Vorcaro called the business "essa bet nossa" (this bet of ours) and wrote that it was not yet launched but was "faturando 5mm por dia", which Valor reports as R$5 million a day (approximately $970,000). Valor reports that he held 30% of the operator indirectly through Bet Participações, whose partner was FIP Oracle, a private equity fund administered by Reag, which the Central Bank has since put into extrajudicial liquidation.

On 27 September 2024, Rennó told Vorcaro: "No fundo Oracle precisamos alterar o beneficiário final pq o Ministério da Fazenda quer saber quem ele é!" (in the Oracle fund we need to change the final beneficiary because the Finance Ministry wants to know who he is). On 30 September he wrote: "vc não pode aparecer e teremos que informar quem é o beneficiário final!" (you cannot appear and we will have to report who the final beneficiary is), and asked whether Vorcaro had a suggestion or whether he should look for "alguém de confiança" (someone trustworthy). The next day he asked who Vorcaro wanted to put in, saying he would make it happen, and said an account would need to be opened at another institution, not at Reag or at Banco Master.

On 4 October, with the operator already live, Rennó wrote that the business would make "muuuito dinheiro" (a lot of money). Vorcaro replied that he had "mixed feelings da bet". Rennó answered: "O negócio vai rodar clean! Jurídico e financeiro nosso! Colocar um cara de confiança! Pode ficar tranquilo! Vc tem que sumir de lá" (the business will run clean, legal and financial are ours, put in a trusted person, you can relax, you have to disappear from there). The messages do not say who was chosen or how the change was made, Times Brasil notes. Documents later presented to the Finance Ministry named Adriano Garzon Correa, a despachante, or vehicle and paperwork agent, from Nova Lima in Minas Gerais who was Vorcaro's partner in other companies, as the Oracle unitholder, according to Valor.

Debentures, "30+5" and an Exit in February 2025

The messages also discuss funding. On 15 October 2024 Rennó proposed making the contribution through convertible debentures and, on 28 October, told Vorcaro that only the transfer of funds remained. In November he asked whether it had been agreed that "o investidor pagaria a outorga" (the investor would pay the licence fee) and put in the rest from January. Vorcaro asked "30mm?"; Rennó replied "30+5". The R$30 million matches the federal licence fee, approximately $5.8 million, Valor notes, but the messages do not show what the additional R$5 million was for. In December Rennó proposed raising a bank credit note (CCB) to R$21 million to pay in capital. In February 2025, Vorcaro asked how the bet stood. "Saímos da bet! Formalmente estou fazendo nossa retirada até o mês que vem! Esquece bet" (we have left the bet, I am formally making our withdrawal by next month, forget the bet), Rennó replied.

The Secretariat of Prizes and Betting's list of authorisations shows Open Gaming S.A., under request 0103/2024, authorised by Ordinance SPA/MF 326 of 17 February 2025 to run the Bet.Bet (betpontobet.bet.br) and DonaldBet brands. The company was formerly Bet.Bet Soluções Tecnológicas, according to Yogonet, and the competition authority Cade cleared its sale to RNGX Holding, whose Ana Gaming runs the 7K and Cassino brands, in April 2026, in a deal that also involved Bet Participações. In mid-September, Folha de S.Paulo and Metrópoles reported that Vorcaro did not appear in the shareholding Bet.Bet filed with the ministry, which included businessmen linked to Pixbet and the music entrepreneur Kleryston Pontes Silveira, who took full control of Bet Participações in September 2025, according to Times Brasil.

Vorcaro's defence did not respond to Times Brasil, and that outlet could not reach Rennó's lawyers. No response from Garzon Correa, Open Gaming or RNGX appears in the reports. In a separate statement after Vorcaro gave evidence to the Federal Police on 30 September, his defence denied that he had taken part in any intimidation and asked for his release.

The Ministry's Question Was the Right One, and the Answer Shows Its Limit

What makes these messages different from the Pixbet claim in September is the trigger. The exchanges begin because the Finance Ministry, vetting applicants for the first federal licences, asked who stood behind the Oracle fund. That is exactly the check a licensing regime should make, and on Valor's account it produced the reaction it was meant to prevent: a conversation about who could be named instead. If the documents filed afterwards named a nominee, the ministry received a compliant answer to its question and an incomplete picture of ownership, and there is nothing in the public record to show that it learned otherwise from its own vetting. As with Pixbet, the information reached the public through a fraud inquiry into a bank, not through the regulator.

The Licence Fee Is the Thread to Pull

The most consequential lines are not the ones about disappearing but "30+5" and the debentures. If the R$30 million for a federal authorisation was to be funded through instruments arranged around a bank founder now accused of fraud, the source of funds behind a licence becomes a question for the anti-money-laundering rules that Brazil built into its regime, not just for its ownership rules. The messages do not establish where the money went, whether it was paid or what the extra R$5 million was for, and Rennó says the group left in February 2025, the month the authorisation was granted. Those are the gaps the Federal Police and the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting can close with bank records; a reporter cannot.

The Ban Ends the Licence but Not the Question

Brazil's betting ban extinguishes every licence later this month, including the one covering Bet.Bet, but it keeps operators liable for anti-money-laundering and other obligations for the period they were licensed and requires them to keep records for five years. The government will be tempted to cite the Vorcaro material as proof that the licensed market was compromised, and Lula has already made the banker a campaign theme, telling a rally in Recife on 25 September that "votar na família Bolsonaro é votar no Vorcaro" (to vote for the Bolsonaro family is to vote for Vorcaro), according to Folha de S.Paulo. The stronger reading cuts both ways: these messages show a regulator asking the right question and a structure designed to defeat it, which is an argument for better ownership checks as much as for ending the market.

Brazil's licensing regime asked who owned its operators. On Valor's account, at least one investor's answer was to find someone else to be the owner.