STF Minister André Mendonça Leaves Partnership in Private Institute Amid Questioning

Supreme Court Minister André Mendonça has announced his departure from the partnership of the Instituto Iter, a private legal and professional training institute he founded. The institution will be transformed into a non profit entity. Mendonça and his wife, Janei Mendonça, are ceding their shares to other partners without financial compensation, with the condition that any related values be used for social and educational purposes. The minister will remain with the institute solely as a professor.

The decision follows scrutiny regarding the institute's financial ties to the public sector. Reports indicate the entity secured public contracts with the government of São Paulo and the city of São Paulo. While some reports cite a revenue of 4.8 million reais in 2025, other reports suggest the figure exceeded 10.8 million reais. Mendonça has contested these figures and stated that he never personally profited from the institute. He previously mentioned in a video that any potential profits would be split between church tithes and social works.

Center leaning sources frame the event as a move to avoid noise following questions about potential conflicts of interest and the speed with which the Ministry of Education authorized the institute to offer postgraduate courses. Center right leaning sources emphasize the institute's role as a venue for meetings with political figures and highlight the professional backgrounds of the other partners, who served in the government of Jair Bolsonaro. One source further links the timing of the departure to an ongoing institutional clash between Mendonça and Minister Alexandre de Moraes regarding a Federal Police report involving banker Daniel Vorcaro.