By St. Paul’s News Team
September 13 2026 | International
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has unsealed an investigation into the production of a film about former President Jair Bolsonaro, citing suspicions that its financing may have been connected to an alleged criminal network.
Justice Flávio Dino said in his decision Sunday that evidence had strengthened suspicions of a sophisticated scheme involving the allocation and diversion of public funds through federal congressional budget amendments and the São Paulo city government.
The investigation could create additional political complications for Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son, who is himself under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Authorities are examining claims that he received millions of dollars from disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro to help finance the biopic, titled Dark Horse.
The latest developments come just weeks before Brazil’s October national elections, in which Flávio Bolsonaro is expected to challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The investigation intensified Thursday when federal police conducted an operation targeting federal lawmaker and prominent Bolsonaro ally Mário Frias. Police seized documents from the film’s production company and from Frias, who reportedly transferred about 2 million reais, or approximately US$400,000, to a nonprofit associated with the production.
Investigators suspect a criminal organisation channelled funds to companies that were irregularly subcontracted, despite a lack of evidence that the contracted services were actually provided.
Dino said there were strong indications that Frias, who served in Bolsonaro’s government, played a central role in the alleged network. The justice also raised the possibility of links between the network and the First Command of the Capital, or PCC, one of Brazil’s largest organised crime groups.
Frias has denied wrongdoing. In a statement Sunday, he said he had never directed congressional budget funds toward financing or benefiting the film and previously dismissed the police operation as a “smoke screen.”
The investigation comes as Brazil’s Supreme Court faces an increasingly turbulent period, with allegations of political bias, graft and interference involving some of its members.
Tensions within the court escalated last week when Justice André Mendonça, a Bolsonaro appointee, ordered the removal of Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues and intelligence director Leandro Almada over alleged illegal investigations involving Mendonça. Dino subsequently overturned the decision and reinstated the officials before Chief Justice Edson Fachin suspended the conflicting rulings. The broader dispute is linked to the collapse of Banco Master, a financial institution that was shut down last November amid a major fraud investigation involving billions of reais.
Vorcaro, the bank’s former chief executive, was arrested earlier this year. His reported connections to senior politicians and Supreme Court figures have further intensified scrutiny of the court.
In a letter published by Brazilian media Sunday, former ministers, economists, business executives and trade union leaders described the situation as one of the most serious crises in the Supreme Court’s history, calling for investigations and accountability to restore public confidence in Brazil’s institutions.