The former president of BRB (Bank of Brasilia) Paulo Henrique Costa used two well-known businessmen in the federal capital so that the Master Bank and the manager Reag become hidden shareholders of the institutionaccording to the independent audit hired by the current administration.
The report gives new details of Costa’s performance in the two ACPs (private capital increase) carried out between 2024 and 2025 to strengthen BRB’s capital and, consequently, allow the purchase, in billions of dollars in volume, of Banco Master’s fake portfolios.
Under the rules of the first ACP, only BRB shareholders could participate in the purchase of new shares. To circumvent the right of preference, Costa sought out two people who were already qualified: digital influencer Leonardo Ávila and businessman Adalberto Valadão Júnior.
Leonardo Augusto Figueiredo Ávila is the son of businessman Leonardo Oliveira de Ávila, owner of the developer Faenge, vice-president of Ademi-DF (Association of Companies in the Real Estate Market of the Federal District) and former president of Codese-DF (Council for Economic, Sustainable and Strategic Development of the Federal District). Federal District).
Adalberto Valadão Júnior, owner of the engineering company Soltec, is the current president of Sinduscon-DF (Civil Construction Industry Union of the Federal District).
WhatsApp messages and emails indicate that Costa was directly involved in the process that took the former banker into command at BRB Daniel Vorcaro and people linked to him, even before the attempt to purchase the Master last year.
The former president, according to the document, carried out a triangulation. First, it requested the names of individuals and legal entities qualified to participate in the initial ACP, in 2024.
With the names in hand, he contacted the two businessmen so that they could transfer the rights and shares purchased to the Borneo and Verbier investment funds, linked to Master and Reag. Costa also provided all the necessary documentation, such as purchase and sale contracts.
The audit also contains printouts of messages in which Costa tells the technical team the names of the funds and the number of shares, in a decision-making centralization that is “anomalous for operations of this scale”, according to the audit.
“Faced with this impediment (direct participation of funds in the ACP), a clearly irregular triangulation architecture was outlined, as it sought to circumvent the pre-established right of preference”, says the report, signed by the law firm Machado Meyer, with technical support from the Kroll consultancy.
“WNT Capital Distribuidora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários SA (“WNT DTVM”), administrator of Verbier, transferred resources in the amount of R$ 130 million in the name of Mr. Adalberto Valadão, while Borneo would have transferred the same amount in the name of Mr. Leonardo Augusto. Subsequently, the shares were acquired by them.”
The Borneo fund’s final beneficiaries are the three children of João Carlos Mansurformer owner of the investment fund manager Reag, which ended up being liquidated by the Central Bank on January 15th.
The report points out that the Verbier fund (whose name until 2024 was Cabreúva) belongs to a former partner of Master Maurício Quadrado — which he denies.
The independent audit points out that, following the operation, the participation of people linked to the “Master ecosystem” in BRB jumped from 0.0007%, at the beginning of 2024, to 23.5%, at the end of 2025.
BUSINESSMEN DENY RECEIVING MONEY BY TRANSFER
The Ávila group’s press office says that the transfer of rights was made without any personal benefit, observing all legal provisions, and that “there is — and never has been — any commercial, professional or service relationship with Banco Master, Reag or their investigated shareholders.”
“The right to subscribe to BRB’s capital increase was guaranteed to all shareholders (…). As there was no subsequent interest in following this greater volume of capital increase, the right was transferred, free of charge and without any personal benefit, to another interested in participating in the BRB capitalization process.”
“About the transaction: the assignment of subscription rights was made in a document from Banco Bradesco, custodian at the time, and subsequently the aforementioned capital increase was approved by the supervisory body, the Central Bank”, states the press office of the influencer’s family.
Valadão Júnior’s defense states that he had no financial gain from the operation, that he is fully available to the authorities to give testimony and that he provided the information to the team responsible for the independent audit hired by BRB.
“The information presented in the aforementioned petition does not correspond to the reality of the facts, since there was no financial gain on the part of Adalberto in the operation in question. It should also be noted that the necessary clarifications were already provided, a few weeks ago, directly to the team responsible for conducting the internal audit at BRB”, says the defense.
Quadrado’s defense denies that she is the beneficiary of the Verbier fund. In a note, the businessman states that the report’s conclusion “is completely wrong, has no technical basis and does not correspond to the truth of the facts”. He also states that he did not have access to the report and that, as soon as possible, he will send all clarifications to correct the information.
“Mauricio Quadrado does not know businessman Adalberto Valadão and was never a shareholder or owner of the Verbier and Cabreúva funds — which, contrary to what the report says, are not two funds that share the same CNPJ but rather a single fund that changed its name from 2024 as can be easily verified in the CVM records”, he says.
Costa’s defense did not want to comment. The STF (Supreme Federal Court) maintained, on Friday (24), the decision of minister André Mendonça who ordered the arrest the former president of BRB on the 16th. The suspicion is that he hid six properties received from Vorcaro as bribes.
Vorcaro’s defense declined to comment. Reag was contacted on Friday through its press office, but there was no response. Mansur’s lawyer was also contacted this Friday; there was no response.
The independent audit was handed over to the authorities. BRB took legal action to block the shareholdings of all people linked to Operation Compliance Zero. The judge granted the request.
The bank, whose main shareholder is the Government of the Federal District, has said that it “comes acting proactively in defense of interests of the company”. When contacted on Friday, he did not respond.
