SAO PAULO, Brazil: Brazilian presidential candidate and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro is under investigation over allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion linked to millions of dollars he received from a banker accused of financial crimes.

Brazil's Supreme Court unsealed several documents late on September 10 showing that Bolsonaro is being investigated over 61 million reais (US$12 million) allegedly provided by banker Daniel Vorcaro to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. The movie, titled The Dark Horse, has not been released.

The investigation is examining whether the Bolsonaro family improperly used the money and whether the payments were correctly reported to Brazilian authorities. The case could damage Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign for the presidency. The first round of voting is scheduled for October 4, and he is in a close race with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Vorcaro, who was arrested in March, is accused of defrauding hundreds of millions of dollars from many of Banco Master's 800,000 clients. They included several state government pension funds. He allegedly persuaded clients to make questionable investments. The scandal has also involved several senior Brazilian officials.

The allegations against Flávio Bolsonaro first became public in May. He has denied wrongdoing. At a campaign event in Manaus on September 11, he said he had been seeking private investment for the film.

"It is very positive that the documents are unsealed," Flávio Bolsonaro told reporters. He said he wanted complete transparency and maintained that there was nothing wrong with the movie.

One of the unsealed documents alleges that Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flávio's brother who lives in Texas, directed how money sent by Vorcaro could be handled in the United States.

Prosecutors suspect some of the film money may have been used to cover Eduardo Bolsonaro's expenses and support Flávio Bolsonaro's political efforts with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the documents.

Eduardo Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing. He said investigators were trying to use the same approach that he claimed had previously been used against his father. Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced by Brazil's Supreme Court to 27 years in prison following a coup attempt.

Brazil's federal police seized documents from the film production company and from lawmaker Mário Frias. Frias had transferred about 2 million reais ($400,000) to a nonprofit organization associated with the film. Both the production company and Frias have denied wrongdoing.

Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça, who was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, opened the investigation into Flávio Bolsonaro in July after a request from federal police.

Mendonça's office remained silent about the case for weeks. This led Lula's allies to accuse the justice system of protecting Flávio Bolsonaro from investigation.

Mendonça later unsealed the documents following a request from Chief Justice Luiz Edson Fachin. Fachin sought to reduce political tensions within the Supreme Court and increase transparency in the broader Banco Master investigation. He ordered Mendonça to release all documents connected to the case within 24 hours.

Paulo Henrique Paschoeto Cassimiro, a political science professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, said Flávio Bolsonaro's links to Vorcaro could damage his chances against Lula just weeks before the election. The senator had spent months improving his position in opinion polls after the allegations first emerged in May.

Cassimiro also said the release of the documents could help Lula because the president had called for all the information to be made public, regardless of which politicians were affected. He noted that much of the scandal had involved right-wing politicians, although not only them.

Lula has used the Banco Master case in campaign advertisements and recent interviews. In one interview, he pointed out that Banco Master was created during the Bolsonaro administration, while Vorcaro was arrested and the bank was closed during Lula's presidency.

Brazil's Central Bank shut down Banco Master in November. The bank had assets worth more than $16 billion.