Federal Police: What About the Women? The Invisibility of Exploitation in the Banco Master Case

Over the past two weeks, Djamila Ribeiro has used her column in Folha de S. Paulo and her social media platforms to highlight a crucial — and systematically silenced — aspect of the so-called “Banco Master Case”*: the situation of the foreign women involved in the encounters organized by banker Daniel Vorcaro.

This series of articles and reflections aims to push Brazilian institutions beyond the surface of financial crimes to confront what may be a transnational network of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

The Dynamics of the Encounters: Planned Silence?

Investigations by journalists such as Mara Luquet (MyNews), Guilherme Amado (Metrópoles/PlatôBR), and Alexa Salomão and Joana Cunha (Folha de S. Paulo) describe a sophisticated international logistics operation. Women from countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine, and Russia were allegedly selected under a strategic criterion: the language barrier. Because they did not speak Portuguese, they would not understand negotiations among the authorities present.

Djamila Ribeiro questions the passivity of public officials in the face of this structure:

“If there are women being relocated, intermediated, and remunerated in groups, there are questions that cannot be sidelined. It is the duty of institutions to answer them.”

The Federal Police’s Criterion and the “Grammar of the Object”

Recent reports indicate that investigators from the Federal Police adopted the position that participation in orgies, in itself, is not subject to criminal prosecution, gaining relevance only if linked to corruption or influence peddling.

The Brazilian philosopher argues that this technicist view conceals a political choice that dehumanizes the women involved:

“This perspective reproduces a historical grammar according to which women, especially those in prostitution, only gain relevance when related to the desire, power, or reputation of men. Their existence is read as an extension of the male subject: they are there ‘because he wanted,’ ‘because he paid.’”

By focusing solely on the men, women “orbit as functional objects,” and the State abdicates its role in investigating possible human rights violations.

The Connection to the Epstein Case and the Risk of Blackmail

Djamila draws a direct parallel with American financier Jeffrey Epstein, whose luxury network concealed a scheme of sexual trafficking and control over powerful figures. The danger of recorded sexual encounters — such as those allegedly held in Trancoso — lies in transforming intimacy into political currency:

“In the Epstein case, recordings of encounters were identified in investigations and proceedings as possible instruments of pressure over powerful men. A single image of participation in an orgy can make a man susceptible to pressure to commit wrongdoing or to remain silent in the face of it.”

She warns that if non-consensual recordings occurred in the Master case, Brazilian power structures cannot treat the material as mere “gossip” or “moralism,” but as a potential criminal offense and a risk to public administration.

The parallel does not imply identical facts. It signals recognition of a structural pattern.

When encounters are recorded, another legal layer emerges. Law 13.772/2018 amended the Penal Code to criminalize recording scenes of nudity or sexual acts without consent (Article 216-B) and the dissemination of such material (Article 218-C). Importantly, sexual crimes do not require a victim’s formal complaint to be investigated.

“Will they wait for an exploited woman to leave Croatia and report, in Brasília, crimes possibly committed by powerful men?” she asks.

Beyond Corruption: Human Trafficking and Pimping

The investigation cannot ignore conduct already typified in Brazilian law to protect human dignity. Among them is pimping (Article 230 of the Penal Code), defined as profiting from the earnings of someone engaged in prostitution.

Djamila emphasizes that sexual freedom presupposes autonomy — something questionable in the context of organized international displacement:

“Participating in an orgy, in itself, is not a crime — provided that all those involved are there of their own free will and under real conditions of autonomy. When women are mobilized to a country that is not their own, to meet men they do not know and with whom they do not even share a language, it is reasonable to question whether we are facing an international network.”

The Debate Is Political, Not Moral

Contrary to the claims of those involved, Djamila Ribeiro’s questioning is not rooted in moral judgment but in public ethics and the protection of women.

“Claims that this is a ‘moral debate’ ignore that it is a political debate. Investigating networks of power without investigating possible networks of sexual exploitation produces an incomplete analysis.”

If women were recruited, transported internationally, hosted, and remunerated through organized intermediaries, there is a concrete legal hypothesis to examine. Ignoring this dimension reduces the case to an issue of male reputation.

The question that closes this series of reflections — and demands an immediate answer from authorities — remains: Federal Police: What about the women?

*For international readers, the Banco Master case refers to a growing political and financial scandal in Brazil involving Daniel Vorcaro, the former head of Banco Master, a financial institution that became the subject of scrutiny over alleged irregular financial operations and potential misuse of public funds. Amid investigations into possible financial crimes and political influence, journalistic reports revealed that private gatherings involving politicians, members of the judiciary, and business figures allegedly included foreign women brought to Brazil under organized arrangements.

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