Grupo João Santos seeks recovery of R$ 2.2 billion in legal dispute

Grupo João Santos is seeking to recover R$ 2.2 billion in court through a legal dispute involving Banco Master. The conglomerate is attempting to annul the sale of court-ordered debts, known as precatórios, which were sold by the group's founders between 2019 and 2020.

At the time of the transaction, the assets were valued at approximately R$ 1 billion but were sold for R$ 180 million. With subsequent corrections, the papers are now valued at R$ 2.2 billion. The group argues that the sale involved a discount of over 80% and claims that only R$ 30 million was effectively deposited into their accounts, alleging the remainder was transferred to Swiss accounts via Banco Master.

In September 2025, the Federal Court of Pernambuco recognized fraud in the alienation and blocked the titles to prevent their transfer. The court noted that the company was legally unable to sell the precatórios due to existing multi-billion real debts with the Union.