STF Minister Zanin Orders Federal Police to Deliver Vorcaro Cell Phone Data

Supreme Court Minister Cristiano Zanin ordered the Federal Police to deliver a copy of data extracted from Daniel Vorcaro's cell phone to his office by 11 p.m. on Sunday. The order follows a confirmation from the Federal Police to Court President Edson Fachin that the agency can provide identical copies of the material to ministers without compromising the chain of custody. Zanin argued that there is no hierarchy among Supreme Court members and that evidence belongs to the plenary and its ministers rather than a specific individual. He stated that access to the material is necessary to form his conviction before a session scheduled for Tuesday, where the court will analyze procedures involving messages between Vorcaro and Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

The access to this material has become a point of tension among the ministers. Zanin, Moraes, and Gilmar Mendes have advocated for all members of the collegiate body to have access to the data. Gilmar Mendes argued that asymmetric access could compromise parity and the collegiality of the judgment. The Prosecutor General's Office also supported prior access to the information. Conversely, Minister André Mendonça, the former rapporteur of the process, warned that providing the full material at this time could jeopardize ongoing investigations and disrupt the upcoming session.

The Federal Police confirmed that the original device and the extraction media remain under their custody. The phone was seized on November 18 of last year during the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero, which investigates frauds at Banco Master. On Saturday, Edson Fachin assumed the rapporteurship of the petition gathering material related to the messages between Moraes and Vorcaro.