Brazil J&F Investimentos agrees to pay $285 million to settle FCPA violations
São Paulo-based conglomerate J&F Investimentos
pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a scheme to bribe officials in Brazil.
The company entered its plea in federal court in Brooklyn.
It agreed to pay a criminal fine of $256 million.
In a related SEC settlement Wednesday,
a J&F majority-owned subsidiary, JBS S.A.：
agreed to pay the SEC disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling about $28.9 million.
JBS USA Holdings, Inc. owns 78.5 percent of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, one of the largest chicken-producing companies in the world. Pilgrim’s Pride is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol PPC.
According to the DOJ:
J&F paid bribes to Brazilian officials between 2005 and 2017
to “ensure that Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled banks would enter into debt and equity financing transactions with J&F and J&F-owned entities” and obtain permission for a merger from the state-owned pension fund.
The FCPA Blog