Former Banco Master employee under investigation for money laundering through illegal gambling.
The São Paulo Civil Police are investigating André Felipe de Oliveira Seixas Maia, 54, on suspicion of participating in a money laundering scheme through illegal betting platforms. He worked at Banco Master until March 2022. Subsequently, he served as director of Tirreno, a financial institution that granted credit to Master.
The anti-fraud division of the State Department of Criminal Investigations (Deic) identified Maia as the main partner of Silium, a payment intermediary. Police point to this company as a "central piece in the financial machinery" of a criminal organization involved in illegal gambling. According to information from Estadão , Seixas Maia is suspected of having spearheaded the fabrication of a false credit portfolio worth R$ 6,7 billion in the Banco Master scheme, which is at the center of the scandal that led to the liquidation of Daniel Vorcaro's bank in November.
The company managed accounts for shell companies.
Police investigations indicate that Silium managed bank accounts for shell companies. These companies were used to move funds from illegal gambling. The operations functioned through CNPJs (Brazilian company registration numbers) opened in the names of straw men, following the model of so-called "Chinese betting sites." The investigation identified that the company that belonged to Seixas Maia and partners, later renamed Nuoro Pay, is suspected of managing the bank accounts of shell companies that received money deposited on the website 59bet55.com, which redirected to the page 6666tiger.com, which offered gambling games such as slot machines and sports betting, without authorization to operate in the national territory.
The investigation is proceeding under seal. The investigation was initially revealed by SBT News . Estadão also had access to the findings. The investigation uncovered a flow of money from bets on the illegal platform to intermediary companies, registered in the names of people who were unaware that companies had been established under their responsibility. For example, a clothing vendor from Brás and a drug user reported missing by his family.
Partners resigned after police visit.
Police officers from the DEIC (Department of Criminal Investigations) went to Silium's headquarters on March 12, 2025, to try to summon those responsible for the company. A week later, André Maia and three other partners—including one of Korean nationality—formally resigned from the company. The company changed its name to Nuoro Pay. Subsequently, according to the building's caretaker, the premises where the company operated were vacated and the lease was terminated.
The São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office assessed that the changes "suggest an attempt at corporate reorganization or concealment of the company's true control structure, possibly in response to the prosecution measures adopted." In addition to Seixas Maia, two partners of Silium were also part of the corporate structure of Cartos, a company that, according to the Federal Police and the Central Bank, allegedly manufactured the false credit portfolios for Banco Master.
Tirreno ceded credits to Master without a clear track record.
In parallel to the activities investigated by the police, André Maia maintained business dealings with Banco Master through Tirreno. Between January and May 2025, Tirreno transferred approximately R$ 6,7 billion in credits to Master. These credits did not present clear payment histories or bank transactions. According to the Federal Police, Master paid nothing for the acquisition of the R$ 6,7 billion portfolio and sold it to BRB, whose losses due to fraud may exceed R$ 5 billion.
Master transferred these credits to Banco de Brasília (BRB) for R$ 12,2 billion. The amount included a premium of R$ 5,5 billion. BRB announced the merger with Master on March 28, 2025.
Federal Police suspects forged documents.
André Maia is accused of providing false documents to the Central Bank. The Federal Police indicate that the loans negotiated by Tirreno were "rotten." The company allegedly functioned as a front to simulate non-existent loans. Seixas Maia was imprisoned for three days in November, targeted by Operation Compliance. He requested the suspension of his testimony to the Federal Police, which was originally scheduled for January 26, arguing that his lawyers had not had full access to the evidence gathered.
Tirreno claimed to have a share capital of R$ 30 million. BRB did not verify the backing of this share capital claimed by the firm. The Director of Supervision of the Central Bank, Ailton de Aquino, told the Federal Police during a deposition in December that it was from a meeting in June with the partner of Cartos and Tirreno that the monetary authority became certain that there was fraud. According to Aquino, Seixas Maia allegedly said at the meeting that more than R$ 6 billion had been generated in credits by the companies, which would be "impossible from a technical point of view," given that Cartos is a "small company" and Tirreno is an "unknown" company.
Platforms made withdrawals difficult and offered illegal games.
The betting platforms of the alleged scheme operated by André Maia functioned in the style of "Chinese betting sites." These platforms receive deposits from bettors through CNPJs (Brazilian company registration numbers) opened in the names of straw men. They make withdrawals difficult. The games offered do not follow basic rules stipulated in Brazilian legislation.
Links to betting sites are disseminated on social media and messaging apps. Among the main games offered are those classified as online casino games . Gambling is permitted as long as it is offered by betting houses authorized by the Ministry of Finance. The platforms must prove that their mechanisms meet control and prize payment requirements. Both shell companies and Silium itself are the target of hundreds of complaints on sites like Reclame Aqui (a Brazilian consumer complaint website) due to the retention of deposited funds or non-payment of bets. People registered as owners of the shell companies told the Civil Police that they have been receiving threats from bettors.
Pocket accounts made tracking difficult.
The investigation identified that Silium/Nuoro Pay used so-called "pool accounts" to hinder the tracking of funds. This mechanism allows the receipt of funds from various sources without the need for movement by the formal account holders. This instrument, typical of fintechs , pools funds from multiple users into a single account, without individual identification of the account holders.
The model, which has also been identified in other investigations, is used to fragment, mix, and redistribute funds. This makes it difficult to trace resources within the banking system. Last November, following an operation by the Federal Police, the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Internal Revenue Service that revealed the use of these "swap accounts" by fintech companies allegedly used to move funds for the criminal organization, the Central Bank ordered the closure of this type of account.
Public Prosecutor's Office points to sophisticated structure
According to the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office, the characteristics of André Maia's firm and others operating similarly suggest they were created to conceal the origin and destination of money obtained from illegal gambling. The various shell companies, established and subsequently abandoned, were allegedly created by the organization to facilitate the rapid circulation of gambling money, erase records, and evade police tracking. The investigation identified financial transactions exceeding R$ 36 million in just one of the companies over a four-month period.
“The analysis of registration data, corporate records, police reports, consumer complaints, and technical investigations carried out by the police team demonstrate the existence of a sophisticated and ramified structure, with transnational operations, focused on gambling, financial fraud, and money laundering,” stated the Public Prosecutor's Office in an opinion from October 2025. The police investigation also uncovered other strategies used by those involved in the scheme to evade tracking, such as technological tools to prevent the identification of the originating server and the final hosting provider of the betting platform.
No connection between the investigations has been established.
Preliminary investigations into illegal betting platforms do not indicate a direct link between these operations and transactions related to Banco Master. The inquiry is proceeding confidentially. No details have been released regarding the progress of the investigations or possible developments. According to investigators, the inquiry shows "strong evidence of the materiality of criminal practices related to gambling and money laundering," orchestrated by a system of companies and beneficiaries in which Silium/Nuoro Pay held a central position.
Vorcaro stated that he knew the person responsible for Tirreno.
Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, is also involved in the operations with Tirreno. Henrique Peretto is identified as another person responsible for Tirreno. Banco de Brasília, managed by the government of the Federal District, paid for the loans.
In his testimony, Daniel Vorcaro stated that he did business with Tirreno because he knew Henrique Peretto, another person responsible for the company. Vorcaro claimed that he did not consider the fact that Tirreno had been opened days before the operations. Vorcaro also said, in his testimony to the Federal Police in December, that he did not agree with the definition of the portfolios as toxic assets and that he did not delve deeply into the analysis of the operations at the operational level.
Defense asserts confidence in innocence.
André Maia's lawyer, Luiz Felipe Mallmann de Magalhães, stated that he is confident that the businessman did not commit any wrongdoing. He declared that this will be demonstrated during the course of the investigation, which is not yet concluded. In a statement, Seixas Maia's defense affirms that he never benefited from any illicit resources, did not participate in structures aimed at the irregular exploitation of betting, and had no prior knowledge of any wrongdoing by third parties. It also emphasizes that the inquiry is in the investigative phase, without charges, indictments, or a court decision attributing any irregular conduct to Seixas Maia.
Seixas Maia's defense in the São Paulo investigation claims that "the company operated strictly technically, as a technology provider focused on processing and managing electronic payment transactions," without any interference in the origin, destination, or purpose of transactions made by its clients. Thus, the company did not act as a financial institution or operator of betting platforms, but rather as a payment intermediary, "in strict compliance with current legislation and Central Bank regulations, without involvement in the core business of third parties, investment intermediation, or gambling operations." Cartos denies having participated in the manufacture or sale of the counterfeit credit portfolio.
The investigation will continue to determine the extent of the alleged criminal scheme. Sources close to the Central Bank indicate that this branch of the investigation reveals the complexity of the structure, with suspicions of crimes on several fronts.