Senator Flávio Bolsonaro solicited financial backing from a scandal-plagued banker for a film about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, according to messages published by Intercept Brasil and confirmed by the newspaper Estadão through sources close to the investigation, a revelation that rattled Brazilian assets and threatened to upend a tightly contested presidential race.

The messages were reportedly extracted from a mobile phone seized by Brazil's Federal Police during Operation Compliance Zero, an investigation into activities linked to Banco Master, the failed lender once controlled by Daniel Vorcaro. According to the reports, negotiations centred on a contribution equivalent to $24mn, with payments totalling $10mn allegedly disbursed by 2025. The Federal Police have not opened a separate inquiry into the exchanges involving the senator.

Vorcaro has been at the centre of an expanding financial scandal. Brazil's central bank ordered the liquidation of Banco Master in November following investigations into allegedly fraudulent loan portfolios. In March, Vorcaro was arrested and charged with paying bribes to a former central bank official, deepening a financial scandal that has drawn in some of Brazil's most prominent political figures. His legal team had no comment.

Intercept Brasil also released an audio clip in which Flávio Bolsonaro can be heard telling Vorcaro: "I feel awkward pressing you, but it's because the film is at a very crucial point."

Questioned by reporters outside Brazil's Supreme Court, the senator dismissed the claims. "That's a lie, where did you get that from?" he said. Informed that Intercept Brasil was preparing to publish the messages, he repeated: "That's a lie, for God's sake, where did you get that from? It's private money, private money, private money."

In a subsequent statement, the senator acknowledged that Vorcaro had agreed to fund the production but insisted the arrangement involved no favours in return. "What happened was a son seeking private sponsorship for a private film about his own father's life. Zero public money. Zero Rouanet Law funding," he said, referring to Brazil's main cultural tax-incentive scheme.

The revelations carry particular weight given Flávio Bolsonaro's political standing as the likely candidate for the right-wing bloc in the October election. Surveys place him in a statistical tie with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva when voters are asked to choose between the two in a hypothetical second round, making any association with the Banco Master scandal potentially damaging ahead of October's presidential election.

The Brazilian real shed more than 2% on May 13, closing above BRL5 to the dollar for the first time this month, while the benchmark Bovespa equity index fell 1.8%, according to Reuters. Traders took the revelations as a catalyst for the moves, with some suggesting the affair could unsettle a presidential race that opinion surveys show is finely balanced.

The elder Bolsonaro, a close ally of US President Donald Trump convicted of attempting to overturn his narrow defeat to Lula in 2022, is currently serving a 27-year sentence and held under humanitarian house arrest. The film, titled Dark Horse, stars American actor Jim Caviezel in the role of Jair Bolsonaro and is scheduled for release in September.