# Gasparino Acknowledges Sending Document to Analyst but Denies Vale Leak

*In explaining his resignation, the director challenges the investigation, says he was denied a proper defense and accuses the miner of selectively enforcing its governance rules.*

- Published: 2026-07-27
- Updated: 2026-07-28
- Section: Insights
- Tags: board of directors, Brazil mining, corporate governance, J&F, Marcelo Gasparino, Ollie, VALE, VALE3
- URL: https://brazilstockguide.com/insights/gasparino-denies-vale-information-leak/

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**By Brazil Stock Guide –** Lawyer Marcelo Gasparino acknowledged sending a sell-side analyst a draft statement and vote he had written via WhatsApp, but denied that the episode amounted to leaking confidential information from Vale (NYSE: VALE; B3: VALE3).

Gasparino made the disclosure in an open letter released after resigning as a Vale director and vice chair of the board. His departure will take effect on Aug. 1.

The letter provides Gasparino’s first detailed account of the episode that led Vale’s board to approve a resolution seeking his removal. Shareholders would still have had to approve his dismissal, but the resignation effectively renders that vote moot.

According to Gasparino, he privately sent the document to an analyst at a well-known Brazilian financial institution with whom he had spoken professionally earlier that week.

Gasparino said the material was entirely his own work, had already been formally submitted to Vale and contained his personal views on issues whose central elements were already public and widely discussed by the market.

He cited assessments involving Bahia Mineração, negotiations over the renewal of railway concessions and Vale’s Mini-Minas program. Gasparino argued that Vale itself had said in a June 24 market disclosure that the main issues had already been addressed publicly.

“There was no disclosure of material nonpublic information,” he said. Gasparino also denied seeking financial gain, attempting to influence securities trading or exposing confidential statements made by other directors.

He acknowledged that the document may subsequently have circulated beyond its original recipient but said any further distribution was neither carried out nor authorized by him.

His account conflicts with Vale’s findings. The company said an investigation conducted by an independent external law firm confirmed that Gasparino was responsible for leaking confidential information related to a June 19 board meeting.

Gasparino also challenged the way the investigation was conducted. He said the law firm overseeing the inquiry contacted him on July 14, but he asked to be interviewed after the July 22 shareholder meeting because he was traveling and attending meetings with investors that had been arranged by Vale itself.

The board decided to seek his removal on the day of the shareholder meeting, before he had been interviewed or granted full access to the investigation’s findings, Gasparino said. He added that he was on a previously scheduled flight and could not participate in the board meeting at which the resolution was approved.

Gasparino again requested access to the investigation’s final report and said he would present his legal defense before the appropriate authorities. “No one should be judged before being heard,” he wrote, referring to a recent visit to the Nuremberg tribunal site.

The letter also broadens the episode into a wider indictment of Vale’s governance. Gasparino said he had observed significant discussions taking place outside the company’s formal decision-making bodies, “secret arrangements and events,” and growing disparities in how the conduct of different directors was assessed.

His reference to undisclosed events follows reports of a dinner and a visit by Vale representatives to J&F’s iron ore complex in Corumbá. The group included Vale’s new board chair, Manuel Lino Silva de Sousa Oliveira, known as Ollie, former chair Daniel Stieler and other company representatives.

Gasparino did not directly connect that episode to the document he sent to the analyst. His description indicates that the shared material dealt with other matters. The controversy involving J&F, however, forms part of the broader atmosphere of mistrust and internal conflict described in his letter.

Gasparino said he had been considering his resignation for months and that it was not solely a response to losing the contest against Ollie for the board’s top position. He described his candidacy as a final attempt to reverse what he views as Vale’s gradual retreat from the principles of transparency and independence.

Gasparino said he received more than 1 billion votes and argued that he won the support of a majority of shareholders when the core investors backing Ollie were excluded. He denied that his resignation resulted from an agreement with any shareholder, involved financial compensation or reflected a commitment made to any third party.

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Source: Brazil Stock Guide, https://brazilstockguide.com/insights/gasparino-denies-vale-information-leak/