One of Brazil's largest megachurches was allegedly laundering money for the country's largest bank fraud

Review

In March 2026, Brazilian police arrested banker Daniel Vorcaro and his brother-in-law, businessman and pastor Fabiano Campos Zettel, for their roles in what Brazil’s finance minister said could be “the largest banking fraud in the country’s history,” with losses totaling $9.7 billion.

The Central Bank of Brazil ordered the liquidation of Banco Master in November 2025 due to a “severe liquidity crisis” and investigated suspected crimes of criminal organization, fraud, market manipulation, and money laundering. The bank issued securities at above-market rates, backed by fictitious credits.

The megachurch connection

Police identified Zettel — who is married to Vorcaro’s sister Daniela — as the main financial operator of the fraud. He owned several companies that did business with the bank. Between October 2024 and January 2026, Zettel made money transfers totaling $8.35 million from his own accounts to those of Lagoinha Belvedere, a large Baptist megachurch in Belo Horizonte. Investigators suspect these transactions were money laundering.

Lagoinha is one of Brazil’s most influential megachurches. Its music label, its conferences, and its international network give it reach across the Portuguese-speaking world. The church launched its own financial institution, Clava Forte Bank, in March 2024 to serve as a payment method for its ecosystem. The church shut it down on November 21, 2025 — the same month the Central Bank liquidated Banco Master. Investigators suspect Clava Forte Bank was used in transactions with Banco Master.

The attempted bribery

Police first arrested Vorcaro on November 17, 2025, releasing him 12 days later with an electronic ankle monitor. Four months later, authorities rearrested him and sent him to a prison in Brasília after a judge cited a “strong indication” Vorcaro attempted to bribe a former central bank director with gifts. Police also discovered text messages exchanged between Vorcaro and a group of aides (including Zettel) in which they discussed plans to beat up journalists and former bank employees.

The political dimension

Sen. Damares Alves, a former pastor at Lagoinha, noted that her congressional committee is investigating pension fraud — which Banco Master is also involved in. The church’s political connections extend beyond the Senate. The fact that a megachurch pastor was the main financial operator of a $9.7 billion bank fraud, and that millions of dollars flowed from the fraud to the church’s accounts, is not a peripheral detail. It is the mechanism.

The propaganda of prosperity

Lagoinha, like Hillsong and many other megachurches, teaches a theology that links financial blessing to faith. The prosperity gospel — the idea that God rewards believers with material wealth — creates a financial pipeline that is uniquely vulnerable to exploitation. If the congregation believes that giving money to the church is a spiritual act that will be rewarded by God, they will give without asking where the money goes. If the church’s leaders are also operating bank frauds and laundering the proceeds through the church’s accounts, the spiritual pipeline becomes a criminal pipeline.

The money that flows from fraud to church is not distinguishable from the money that flows from faith to church. Both arrive in the same accounts. Both are recorded as donations. Both are tax-free. The prosperity gospel does not just make the church rich. It makes the church a perfect vehicle for laundering the proceeds of fraud, because the money is already flowing in one direction, from believers to leadership, without scrutiny.

Verdict: False. The church’s pastor was the financial operator of a $9.7 billion bank fraud. Millions of dollars flowed from the fraud to the church’s accounts. The church’s own bank was shut down the same month the fraudulent bank was liquidated. The prosperity gospel provided the cover. The congregation provided the money. The fraud provided the rest.