J&F Investimentos

J&F Investimentos is a Brazilian holding company controlled by Wesley and Joesley Batista. It entered a corporate leniency agreement with Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Office on June 5, 2017, agreeing to pay 8 billion reais and contribute 2.3 billion reais to social projects over 25 years, with the amounts subject to inflation adjustments. Pilgrim’s Pride’s 2024 filing says the total fine was later reduced to 3.5 billion reais and that Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court suspended J&F’s obligation to make additional installment payments in December 2023 while considering a petition alleging possible enforcement-authority misconduct in making the agreement. The filing says the agreement otherwise remained in effect.

In May 2017, Reuters reported that Wesley and Joesley Batista testified that they had spent 600 million reais bribing nearly 1,900 politicians. J&F announced a 10.3-billion-real corporate leniency penalty, approximately $3.2 billion at the time, payable over 25 years with inflation adjustments.

On October 14, 2020, J&F Investimentos pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Its admitted scheme ran from 2005 through 2017. J&F agreed to a $256.5 million criminal penalty; U.S. authorities allowed credit of up to half that amount for qualifying payments under the Brazilian resolution.

J&F admitted promising or paying more than $148 million for Brazilian officials’ benefit to obtain BNDES financing, more than $4.6 million for a Petros pension-fund executive’s benefit to secure merger approval, and approximately $25 million to a senior legislative official to obtain Caixa financing. The scheme used New York bank accounts and included a Manhattan apartment transferred as a bribe.

The SEC found that Wesley and Joesley Batista concealed the bribery arrangements from Pilgrim’s Pride’s accountants and auditors, knowingly caused inaccurate books and records, and violated Exchange Act Section 13(b)(5) and Rules 13b2-1 and 13b2-2. J&F and JBS also caused Pilgrim’s accounting and internal-control violations. In the settled administrative proceeding, JBS agreed to approximately $26.9 million in disgorgement and interest, and each brother agreed to a $550,000 civil penalty. The resolution required compliance improvements and three years of reporting.

J&F Investimentos entered a corporate leniency agreement with Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Office in June 2017. Pilgrim’s Pride’s 2024 filing says J&F agreed in June 2017 to an 8-billion-real fine and 2.3 billion reais for social projects over 25 years, subject to inflation adjustments. The filing says the total fine was later reduced to 3.5 billion reais and Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court suspended J&F’s obligation to make additional installment payments in December 2023 after J&F petitioned over alleged misconduct by enforcement authorities. The company filing says the agreement otherwise remained in effect.

Related Reports

Sources and Records

  1. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/802481/000080248124000024/ppc-20240401.htm
  2. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2017/06/1889328-owner-of-jbs-receives-discount-in-agreement-with-attorney-generals-office.shtml
  3. Reuters: J&F Brazilian leniency agreement, May 31, 2017
  4. J&F: financial terms of leniency agreement, May 31, 2017
  5. DOJ: J&F guilty plea, October 14, 2020
  6. 18 U.S.C. § 371 — full governing conspiracy passage
  7. J&F criminal information, filed October 14, 2020
  8. https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2020/34-90170.pdf
  9. SEC enforcement announcement, October 14, 2020
  10. U.S. Code: 15 U.S.C. 78m

AI generated report by Explorvia.com.