Dark Horse: Dino Lets Federal Police Mine São Paulo Fraud Probe Files

Brazil · JUSTICE

The decision, issued under seal and first reported by O Globo, merges a state fraud investigation into the film’s producer with a Supreme Court inquiry into whether congressional budget amendments helped finance the Bolsonaro cinebiopic.

Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino has authorized Brazil’s Federal Police to access evidence seized by the São Paulo Civil Police in a June 2026 fraud operation against the producer of Dark Horse, the cinebiopic of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a confidential decision first revealed by O Globo and confirmed by CNN Brasil on Monday, 24 August 2026.

What Dino’s decision changes

Dino’s decision responds to a request from the Federal Police itself, which wants to mine the material seized in São Paulo for its own investigation into whether parliamentary budget amendments, the transfers known in Brazil as emendas parlamentares, were diverted to finance Dark Horse. The case runs under seal at the Supreme Court, and Dino is the rapporteur of a series of proceedings examining irregularities in the use of congressional amendments.

The authorization was first reported by columnist Bela Megale at O Globo and quickly confirmed by CNN Brasil, UOL, Metrópoles and Gazeta do Povo. Because the proceedings are confidential, the court released no formal statement. The move does not create a new investigation: it allows federal agents to incorporate phones, documents and financial records gathered by the state police into the inquiry already under way in Brasília.

It is the second time in two months that a Supreme Court justice has widened federal access to material concerning the film. In July, Justice André Mendonça authorized the Federal Police to investigate the financing of the film on a separate front, after revelations that the production received tens of millions of reais from Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master, who has been jailed since November 2025 on billion-real fraud charges.

The June operation against Karina Ferreira da Gama

The São Paulo operation that produced the evidence was launched in the first hours of June by the 2nd Police Station for Crimes Against Public Administration, Corruption and Money Laundering, known as DICCA. Its target was Karina Ferreira da Gama, owner of Go Up Entertainment, the company behind Dark Horse, and of the Instituto Conhecer Brasil, or ICB, a non-profit she controls.

Investigators suspect fraud and diversion of public resources in a R$108 million contract between the ICB and São Paulo’s city hall to provide free wi-fi coverage in public spaces, the WiFi Livre SP program. Eight search-and-seizure warrants issued by the 1st Regional Warrant Court were served on the headquarters of the ICB and of Go Up Entertainment, two residential addresses of Karina, and the headquarters of the Municipal Secretariat of Innovation and Technology.

The civil police also asked the courts for access to analyses by Coaf, Brazil’s financial intelligence unit, of transactions made by the ICB, Go Up and Karina. In filings, investigators described consistent suspicions of asset commingling between the institute and the production company, and raised the hypothesis that funds from the wi-fi program may have supported activities linked to the film while it was being produced. Karina has denied that the film received public money and says the city contract has no connection to the film; the administration of Mayor Ricardo Nunes said it is cooperating and has found no irregularities so far, noting the contract predates the production.

Amendments, Vorcaro and two judicial fronts

The federal inquiry that will now absorb the São Paulo material examines whether amendments destined by lawmakers to entities linked to the production were used to pay for the film. Five parliamentarians appear in the investigation, among them federal deputy Mário Frias, the former culture secretary under Bolsonaro who wrote the screenplay of Dark Horse and who, in 2024, directed R$2 million in amendments to Karina’s ICB. In May, Frias answered Dino’s questions and denied any triangulation of funds, calling the allegation speculative and legally irrelevant.

The Mendonça front is separate. It grew out of the collapse of Banco Master and the revelation, first by The Intercept Brasil, that Vorcaro financed more than 90 percent of the film’s budget, with at least R$61 million traced to the production, and that audio messages showed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a presidential pre-candidate, pressing the banker for payments. Mendonça also authorized investigators to examine whether Master funds paid for the U.S. stay of former deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro. UOL reported that the evidence-sharing case handled by Dino has no relation to the Vorcaro payments.

Flávio Bolsonaro, who denies any irregularity and says no public money was used, asked that the amendments case be redistributed to Mendonça so both fronts would sit with the same justice. The production company has also denied receiving money from Banco Master. No charges have been announced in either federal inquiry.

A film at the center of Brazil’s political storm

Dark Horse dramatizes the political rise of Bolsonaro, with American actor Jim Caviezel in the lead role. The film was first shown at an event in Las Vegas and its Brazilian release was scheduled for August 2026, weeks before an election in which the Bolsonaro family is a central actor even with the former president imprisoned.

Bolsonaro, who governed from 2019 to 2022, was convicted by the Supreme Court in September 2025 of attempting to overturn the 2022 election and sentenced to 27 years in prison. The overlapping investigations into how his cinebiopic was financed now touch the Supreme Court, the Federal Police, the São Paulo state police and the city’s comptroller agencies, ensuring the film will remain in the headlines through the campaign.

For now, the Dino decision is procedural: it widens what investigators can read, not who they can accuse. But it gives federal agents a far richer evidence base, including seized devices and financial records, at a moment when both judicial fronts around Dark Horse are accelerating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• www.cnnbrasil.com.br
• www.terra.com.br
• www.metropoles.com
• www.cartacapital.com.br
• www.gazetadopovo.com.br
• claudiodantas.com.br

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