Banco Master lawyer met Mourão in 2021

According to Planalto agenda records consulted by the press, Warde appeared once in the official books, in a Bolsonaro-era appointment at Mourão’s office tied to a lecture on “sovereignty, climate and sustainable development.” He was there as president of the Institute for Reform of State-Business Relations, or IREE.

That official entry collides with the account Warde allegedly gave Vorcaro in January 2025, when he said he had met Lula and handed the president a bottle of whiskey from the banker. The Planalto says no such meeting happened, and the visit does not appear in official calendars reviewed by reporters.

The distinction is important for investors and market watchers because it separates documented political access from disputed claims of influence. For Banco Master, whose owner met Lula in December 2024 to discuss the bank’s situation, any suggestion of privileged political channels raises governance questions at a time when confidence and funding conditions matter.

Warde later left Vorcaro’s defense in January 2026 after the banker chose to pursue a plea bargain, underscoring the strain around the case. The new record does not prove impropriety, but it does confirm that the lawyer had a formal presence inside the federal government years before the contested Lula episode.

With Brazil politics already turning more volatile ahead of the next election cycle, the episode is likely to keep Banco Master and Vorcaro in the headlines, especially if more records or testimony emerge about the banker’s contacts with political figures.