As highlighted in this prior post, in October 2020 J&F Investimentos S.A. (a private investment holding company based in Brazil that owns approximately 250 companies primarily involved in the meat and agriculture business) and a related entity JBS as well as J&F owners Joesley Batista and Wesley Batista resolved a net $155 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action for allegedly bribing Brazilian officials.
Recently, in this letter to Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) renewed their request that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) conduct a formal review of the transactions of Brazilian meatpacking conglomerate JBS S.A., its holding company J&F Investimentos, and any entity owned or controlled by Wesley and Joesley Batista.
CFIUS, which is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, is an interagency committee authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States and certain real estate transactions by foreign persons, in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States.
In the letter, the Senators state:
“We remain deeply concerned by the company’s habitual use of criminal practices to obtain the funds to acquire U.S. companies. When foreign companies benefit from corrupt practices and spread them to U.S. markets, they jeopardize our economic security, present direct risks to our businesses, and undermine our efforts to fight corruption abroad. With JBS S.A. planning further U.S. acquisitions in the near future, the need for a thorough investigation is urgent.”
