Lawyers for Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro asked Supreme Court President Edson Fachin on Friday to disqualify Justice Alexandre de Moraes from overseeing an inquiry into Bolsonaro’s relationship with lawyer Willer Tomaz. They also argued that the case should be reassigned to Justice André Mendonça and requested that the precautionary measures imposed on the senator be lifted.
The inquiry is examining whether Bolsonaro and Tomaz had an indirect partnership to launder money, including through a betting company. The Federal Police sought, and Moraes authorized, the cancellation of Bolsonaro’s Brazilian passports and the surrender of his Italian passport. Moraes also ordered Bolsonaro and Tomaz not to contact each other. The defense has filed three submissions challenging the measures and the handling of the case.
The lawyers say Moraes should be removed because he used the same aircraft that investigators have identified as a possible link between Bolsonaro and Tomaz. The jet is also connected to Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master. According to the account of the investigation, Bolsonaro, his wife, two daughters and Tomaz flew from Fort Lauderdale to Brasília in January 2025 on a Legacy 650 owned by Fraction 024 Administração de Bem Próprio S.A.
Fraction 024 was divided into three equal stakes: one held by Tomaz, another by TOTVS founder Laércio Cosentino, and a third acquired by Prime You in late 2024. Vorcaro was a partner at Prime You from 2021 until September 2025. The report also said that Moraes and his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, flew on executive jets belonging to or linked to companies associated with Vorcaro between May and October 2025. Viviane was hired by Banco Master for R$130 million; investigators say Vorcaro discussed transferring stakes in a jet and a helicopter as payment under a second contract with her law firm.
In a separate argument, Bolsonaro’s lawyers say Mendonça should have been assigned the inquiry because it originated from information about Tomaz gathered during an investigation into alleged fraud involving Brazil’s social security system. Since Mendonça oversees that case, the defense argues, related investigations should also fall under his jurisdiction under the Supreme Court’s internal rules.
If the inquiry is reassigned to Mendonça or another justice, the lawyers want Moraes’s precautionary orders revoked. The report also says Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States after the election, despite having said in a video the previous day that he would hand over his passports and was not considering leaving the country.
Sources: Folha Poder.