And experts say it may play a role in the nail-biter race unfolding for Brazil's presidency.
uncertain
it → say → presidency
On Sunday, Brazilian voters will head to the polls for the first round of the country's presidential vote.
asserted
voters → head → vote
He is seeking an unprecedented fourth term, after previously leading the country from 2003 to 2011.
asserted
He → seek → 2011
His main challenger is far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, the eldest son of embattled former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for an alleged coup attempt.
asserted
who → serve → attempt
The two candidates are locked in a neck-and-neck race.
asserted
candidates → lock → race
But both have faced fallout from the Banco Master scandal, a sprawling financial scheme that has cast a shadow over Brazil's political sphere.
asserted
that → face → sphere
“I get the sense that the bases of both of these candidacies are not that happy with how the campaigns have gone," said Anthony W Pereira, head of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University.
asserted
Pereira → get → University
He pointed to the high levels of rejection Brazilian voters have expressed for both candidates.
asserted
voters → point → candidates
In late September, the pollster Quaest found that 56 percent of respondents said they would refuse to vote for Bolsonaro.
asserted
they → find → Bolsonaro
About 54 percent said the same about Lula.
asserted
percent → say → Lula
That helps explain why mobilisation and enthusiasm are fairly low,” Pereira said.
asserted
Pereira → help → ?
The financial imbroglio has delivered a black eye to both ends of Brazil's political spectrum.
asserted
imbroglio → deliver → spectrum
A range of business leaders, political figures, regulators and judges have been swept up in the scandal.
asserted
range → sweep → scandal
A mid-sized lender, Banco Master grew aggressively over the last decade by selling high-yield deposit certificates.
asserted
Master → grow → certificates
Some of those certificates offered returns of up to 140 percent relative to Brazil’s benchmark interbank rate.
asserted
Some → offer → rate
But Banco Master did not have the assets needed to sustain that output.
asserted
Master → have → output
It lacked the money to pay back its risky loans, and what assets it did have were diverted to shell accounts, according to prosecutors.
Brazil's Central Bank ultimately liquidated Banco Master in 2025, as the lender faced a major funding squeeze.
uncertain
lender → lack → squeeze
Its owner, Daniel Vorcaro, was subsequently arrested, accused of an array of financial crimes, including money laundering and fraud.
asserted
owner → arrest → laundering
The collapse of Banco Master triggered a nearly $7.7bn payout from Brazil's Credit Guarantee Fund, the largest disbursement in the nonprofit insurance's history.
asserted
collapse → trigger → history
Investigators have suggested that Vorcaro protected his fraud scheme by cultivating influence among power brokers among Brazil's elite.
uncertain
Vorcaro → suggest → elite
Among those implicated in the scandal is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the presidential candidate.
asserted
Bolsonaro → implicate → scandal
Last month, the Supreme Court unsealed documents showing he is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering in connection with Vorcaro.
asserted
he → unseal → Vorcaro
Audio recordings have also surfaced, appearing to show Bolsonaro soliciting the disgraced bank leader for millions in funding.
asserted
Bolsonaro → surface → funding
The money was slated as financing for Dark Horse, a film about his imprisoned father, Jair Bolsonaro.
asserted
money → slat → father
Flavio Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing.
asserted
Bolsonaro → deny → wrongdoing
He described the interaction as a private sponsorship opportunity, unrelated to the Banco Master scandal.
asserted
He → describe → scandal
A greater association with the left
But while Bolsonaro appears to have direct ties to the scandal, polling suggests that left-wing campaigns like Lula's may suffer more.
uncertain
campaigns → appear → more
In September, the polling institute Datafolha released a survey that found 34 percent of respondents associated the Banco Master scandal more with left-wing politicians than with any other kind of political leaning.
asserted
percent → release → leaning
Only 27 percent believed it involved more right-wing politicians.
asserted
it → believe → politicians
Another 13 percent associated the scandal with politicians of all stripes, and 16 percent said they did not know how to answer the question.
asserted
they → associate → question
Leonardo Paz, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), a think tank, said that Brazilian media shares part of the blame for the public's perception of the scandal.
asserted
media → say → scandal
“Make no mistake, this is a corruption scandal that predominantly involves the right," Paz said.
asserted
Paz → make → right
He argues that the news coverage created a false equivalency between Lula's involvement and Bolsonaro's.
asserted
coverage → argue → involvement
“Flavio’s up to his neck in this scandal, but the press’s need to come across as impartial has ended up generating this inaccurate perception that the Master case affects everyone equally,” Paz explained.
asserted
Paz → ’ → everyone
A justice's scandal
Lula has not been directly linked to the Banco Master scandal.
asserted
Lula → link → scandal
But revelations have emerged regarding Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a frequent target of right-wing criticism.
asserted
revelations → emerge → criticism
Earlier this year, a rival justice released a document purporting to show Vorcaro composing messages to de Moraes, in some cases asking for legal advice.
asserted
Vorcaro → release → advice
De Moraes has denied exchanging any messages with the banker.
asserted
Moraes → deny → banker
He has also called the accusations an "incriminating farce for political and electoral purposes".
asserted
He → call → purposes
The justice was appointed to the court in 2017, under then-President Michel Temer, a centre-right figure.
asserted
justice → appoint → Temer
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
