By Ricardo Brito and Rodrigo Viga Gaier
BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO, March 4 (Reuters) - Brazilian businessman Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of lender Banco Master, was detained by federal police on Wednesday in a new phase of an investigation into the bank, the Supreme Court said.
Vorcaro had previously been arrested in November as part of a probe into alleged issuance of fraudulent credit securities by the institution, but was later released and ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor.
Brazil's federal
police said in a statement they had launched raids on Wednesday "investigating the possible crimes of threats, corruption, money laundering and invasion of computer systems carried out by a criminal organization."
They did not name Vorcaro, whose lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal police said they were serving four pre-trial arrest warrants and 15 search and seizure warrants in the states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, all ordered by Brazil's Supreme Court, and that the central bank supported the investigation.
Former central bank director Paulo Sergio Neves de Souza was targeted by a search warrant and ordered to wear an ankle monitor, the court ruling showed, adding he provided "informal consultancy" to Vorcaro.
The central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately get in touch with Neves de Souza, or his lawyers.
Banco Master, which held under 1% of Brazil's banking assets, was liquidated in November amid what the central bank called a severe liquidity crisis, sharp financial deterioration and serious rule violations.
The liquidation came on the same day police launched the operation that first led to Vorcaro's arrest.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Additional reporting by Bernardo Caram in Brasilia; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
