Brazil presidential hopeful Flávio Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing after asking banker for millions

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro denied any wrongdoing Wednesday in his reported request for millions from jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro, a revelation that could harm the lawmaker’s expected run for the country’s presidency in October against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Earlier, The Intercept Brazil published voice messages of Bolsonaro asking Vorcaro, who is at the center of a major corruption scandal, for 61 million reais ($12 million) to produce “The Dark Horse,” a movie Bolsonaro says he is making that focuses on the life of his father, jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Vorcaro, the former CEO of the shuttered Banco Master, is the center of a fraud and graft scandal that has engulfed several high-ranking officials in Brazil since the beginning of the year. Vorcaro is accused, among other things, of defrauding Banco Master clients out of millions of dollars by convincing them to make shady investments. The case remains under investigation by the country’s federal police and Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro, however, defended his request.

“Our case is of a son seeking PRIVATE sponsorship for a PRIVATE film about his father’s story. No public money,” Flávio Bolsonaro said in a statement. “I did not offer any (illegal) advantages in exchange. I did not have private encounters. I did not intermediate business with the government. I did not receive money.”

But political consultant Thomas Traumann said the revelations could negatively impact Bolsonaro’s campaign shortly before his Liberal Party holds its convention to put him on the ballot.

“As Flávio Bolsonaro is an unknown politician whose biggest asset is being son of the former president, a scandal like this could have a devastating impact,” Traumann said. ”(Flávio Bolsonaro’s) asking for money and showing intimacy with a banker who is under police investigation for fraud could force Brazil’s opposition of changing its candidate to keep its chances.”

Flávio Bolsonaro’s messages to Vorcaro were sent in October, The Intercept Brazil reported .The banker was arrested in March and has since tried to strike a plea bargain deal with authorities.

Brazil’s Central Bank shut down Banco Master, whose assets topped $16 billion, in November.

Since the scandal broke, Flávio Bolsonaro and his allies have alleged without evidence that it should be pinned on Lula; Brazil’s federal police have not linked Vorcaro to the current administration. Earlier this week, a former chief-of-staff for Jair Bolsonaro, Sen. Ciro Nogueira, denied media reports that said he received regular payments from Vorcaro to support him.

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