Businessman who made transfers to 'Dark Horse' goes through hearing with Mendonça's assistant and says that the denunciation of Master was voluntary

Businessman Antonio Carlos Freixo Junior, aka Mineiro, stated this Tuesday (8) that his plea agreement was voluntary. The testimony took place before an assistant judge of the STF.

The whistleblower declared that he transferred R$1.3 billion between 2020 and 2025. According to him, the money generated in cash was used to pay bribes to Banco Master.

His company donated US$12.3 million to the film "Dark Horse" about Jair Bolsonaro. The values ​​were requested by senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Businessman Antonio Carlos Freixo Junior and his defense participated this Tuesday afternoon (8) in a hearing with a judge assisting Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), to evaluate the plea bargain reached with the Attorney General's Office (PGR) last month. Mendonça is the rapporteur of the Master case.

At the meeting, the judge questioned whether the agreement was signed by the businessman voluntarily. He replied yes. Voluntariness is a requirement for a complaint to be approved by the responsible magistrate. There is no deadline for Mendonça to ratify the agreement.

The businessman, known as Mineiro, stated in his statement — signed with the PGR on August 8 — that he was responsible for "generating" cash for Daniel Vorcaro's team, owner of the now-defunct Banco Master. The money was delivered in suitcases and, according to the businessman, would be used to pay bribes.

According to Mineiro, he moved around R$1.3 billion between 2020 and 2025 at the request of Vorcaro and his partners in Master's alleged criminal scheme. The businessman said he did not know who the cash was delivered to.

Mineiro is the owner of Entre Investimentos, the company that, at the behest of Vorcaro, made transfers for the film "Dark Horse", about former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The transfers, estimated at around US$12.3 million, went to the Havengate fund, based in the United States and controlled by a lawyer for former deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro.

The amounts for the film were requested from Vorcaro by senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), candidate for president.

To the PGR, Mineiro explained how the alleged scheme worked. According to him, the cash was requested by Vorcaro or people linked to him, such as Fabiano Zettel, the former banker's brother-in-law. Orders were made via WhatsApp.

To obtain the money in cash, Mineiro contacted three operators, also via WhatsApp. He then made bank transfers to companies indicated by these operators — one of them was a fuel distributor that, according to the whistleblower, had already appeared in the Operation Hidden Carbon investigations, in São Paulo.

"The payments made by Antonio Carlos [Mineiro] to operators with the purpose of generating values ​​in kind were generally formalized through loan contracts signed with the company Entre Investimentos," said the whistleblower.

According to Mineiro, the operators obtained the money in cash through contacts in Brás, in the center of São Paulo, and in the fuel sector.

Then, they delivered the amounts to him at the headquarters of Entre Investimentos, on Rua Iguatemi, in Itaim Bibi, in the capital of São Paulo.

Mineiro then said that he arranged for the bags to be delivered to Zettel via WhatsApp, usually on the same day, to avoid storage risks. This was done in the parking lot of the Entre building, which was underground, or in the garage of the building where Zettel lived, also in Itaim Bibi.

Miners and operators who obtained cash earned a percentage for their work: 1% and 4%, respectively.

To prove his reports, the businessman presented to the authorities:

receipts for the various bags you bought to store your cash;

simulated loan agreements with the company Enter to justify payments;

records of bank transfers for operators;

a table with the values ​​and dates of all transfers, among other elements.