The president and directors of the Single Social Security Fund of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Rioprevidência) were targets this Friday (23) of Operation Paper Boat, by the Federal Police. They are suspected of involvement in irregular financial transactions worth almost R$1 billion with Banco Master. Banker Daniel Vorcaro’s financial institution, in crisis, was ordered to extrajudicial settlement by the Central Bank. 
In Rio, police officers carried out four search and seizure warrants, issued by the 6th Federal Criminal Court. One of them, in the house of the president of Rioprevidência, Deivis Marcon Antunes. There, the police seized an armored luxury vehicle, R$7,000, a pen drive, watch, as well as various documents. He was not found and the institution reported that he has been on vacation since 2025.
The PF was also at the residences of the former director of Investments at Rioprevidência, Eucherio Lerner Rodrigues, and the former interim director of Investments, Pedro Pinheiro Guerra Leal. In the first man’s house, the PF found R$3,500, seized along with a luxury vehicle, cell phone, notebooks, pen drives and hard drives, as well as documents.
The pension fund for public servants in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to investigations, would have invested R$970 million in Banco Master, between November 2023 and July 2024. According to the PF, the operations put the assets of Rio’s 235,000 employees and their dependents at risk and cited that the maneuver could result in default.
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In a statement, the corporation explained that Rioprevidência’s irregular operations “exposed the municipality’s assets to a high risk that is incompatible with its purpose.”
The crimes investigated involve fraudulent management, misappropriation of resources, inducing public authorities to make mistakes and fraud against inspectors or investors, in addition to criminal association and passive corruption.
The fund, however, says that it acted within the law and that the values are protected by court order. It also ensured that payments to retirees and pensioners occur normally.
“The investment is already being paid off with the retention of amounts resulting from the loans granted, which would be passed on to Master”, informed Rioprevidência, in a note.
Banco Master, suspected of fraud, money laundering and other irregularities, is in the extrajudicial liquidation phase, as determined by the Central Bank.
