In addition to JBS meat and protein interests, J&F has global investments in pulp paper, cosmetics, energy, media and finance.
Reuters reports that in Brazil, J&F executives have admitted to bribing more than 1,900 politicians in order to obtain low-cost financing from state-run banks and other benefits for several different business interests. The company paid more than $150 million in bribes to top government officials, which resulted in $178 million in profits for the company.
The DOJ investigation also revealed that J&F executives used New York-based bank accounts to facilitate the bribery scheme and make corrupt payments, purchased and transferred a Manhattan apartment as a bribe, and met in the U.S. to discuss and further aspects of the illegal scheme.
“J&F has admitted to engaging in a long-running scheme to bribe corrupt officials in Brazil to obtain financing and other benefits for the company,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a DOJ news release. “As part of this scheme, executives at the very highest levels of the company used U.S. banks and real estate to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to corrupt government officials in Brazil, in order to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for the company and its affiliates.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been conducting an investigation on JBS S.A. The company has agreed to pay approximately $27 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest payments related to charges of an extensive bribery scheme related to their acquisition of the U.S. poultry company Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in 2009. The SEC investigation found that J&F Investimentos S.A. and JBS S.A. owners, Joesley and Wesley Batista, along with other company officials, made payments of approximately $150 million in bribes at the direction of a former Brazil Finance Minister.
The Batistas were arrested in 2017 on charges of obstruction of justice and insider trading charges but were released in 2018. Lucio Martins, director of compliance at J&F, also pleaded guilty to violations of the FCPA on behalf of the company in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn via video conference. 
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Carrie Veselka
- Editor
- Progressive Cattle
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