Brazilian meatpacking company to pay $3.2 billion penalty

J&F Investimentos, the Brazilian holding company that controls meatpacking company JBS SA, has agreed to pay a penalty of 10.3 billion reais ($3.2 billion) after admitting to bribing politicians.

JBS is the world’s largest meatpacker,

a

Wall Street Journal

report noted.

The illegal payments gave JBS access to financing that funded the company’s acquisitions in the U.S. and other companies, the

Journal

article said.

In exchange for cooperating with prosecutors, former JBS chairman Joesley Batista and his older brother, CEO Wesley Batista, avoided prison sentences, the

Journal

report said. The brothers gave evidence to prosecutors that is being used to investigate Brazlilan President Michel Temer, his predecessor Dilma Roussef and her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the article said.

After details of the plea bargain were made public, Joesley Batista flew from Brazil to the U.S. on JBS’s corporate jet. Wesley Batsita remains in Sāo Paulo as JBS’s CEO,

the

Financial Times

reported.

“Bankruptcy experts say it is only a matter of time before the group enters a form of restructuring or an asset disposal programme to deal with expected tightening liquidity conditions as lenders focus on the implications of the plea bargain,” the

FT

article said.  (Sources:

Wall Street Journal

, June 1, 2017;

Financial Times

, May 31, 2017.)