The Federal Police of Brazil (PF) has officially launched an investigation into the potentially illicit use of public money to finance Dark Horse, an upcoming biographical film about former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues confirmed that investigators are probing whether specific parliamentary discretionary funds—state budget allocations that lawmakers are legally permitted to direct toward projects within their home constituencies—were systematically funneled into private organizations tied directly to the movie production.
The investigation gained significant legal momentum after Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino formally authorized the federal inquiry. “Our team has already initiated the necessary procedural steps to advance the investigations,” Director-General Rodrigues stated during a press conference.
At the center of the probe are five pro-Bolsonaro federal deputies belonging to the right-wing Liberal Party (PL). Authorities suspect the politicians collectively engineered the allocation of 4.6 million reais (approximately €777,000) in federal funds toward entities directly embedded in the film’s production network.
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The political funding scheme is drawing fire across multiple government levels. Last month, Brazil’s Comptroller General of the Union (CGU)—the federal ministry tasked with auditing public expenditures and rooting out corruption—initiated a confidential, high-level audit to investigate the alleged misappropriation and diversion of state capital.
The Dark Horse cinematic project has transformed into a major political liability for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son. The scandal originally ignited in May after investigative news portal The Intercept Brasil leaked audio recordings proving that high-profile financier Daniel Vorcaro was secretly backing the film.
The intercepted conversations revealed that Flávio Bolsonaro negotiated a massive 134 million reais (€22.65 million) financing arrangement with Vorcaro. Out of that total, the banker had already paid out 64 million reais (€10.9 million). Critically, one of the recorded negotiation sessions occurred just 24 hours before Vorcaro was arrested by federal authorities for alleged financial fraud tied to Banco Master.
The corporate web behind Dark Horse has since faced intense law enforcement scrutiny. Last month, the São Paulo State Civil Police executed a targeted raid against an NGO owned by Karina Gama, the businesswoman who heads Go UP, the main production company behind the movie.
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The targeted non-profit, Instituto Conhecer Brasil, had historically operated within the religious event space but abruptly secured lucrative municipal contracts. Police suspect the organization engaged in contract fraud, allegedly failing to install over 5,000 free public Wi-Fi hotspots across the city of São Paulo despite receiving millions in taxpayer funds—capital investigators fear may have been redirected to subsidize the Bolsonaro biopic.
