From WATTAgNet:
JBS CEO Wesley Batista has been detained by authorities in Brazil, just three days after his brother Joesley Batista went into custody.
Brazil’s federal police, under a warrant for his arrest, took the CEO into custody on September 13, saying he used insider information to avoid losses related to a plea bargain signed earlier in 2017 related to a corruption scandal in which the brothers admitted to bribing Brazilian politicians.
At the time the scandal broke, Wesley was CEO of JBS, while Joesley was the chairman. He has since stepped down as the chairman of the Brazil-based meat and poultry company, and Tarek Farahat has taken over as his successor.
Joesley turned himself in on September 10 following a Supreme Court order for his arrest.
Wesley remains CEO of the company, despite calls for his removal. Batista’s future as the company’s CEO was to be discussed at a special shareholders’ meeting scheduled for September 1. However, a Brazilian court ordered that meeting to be suspended for 15 days.
JBS, on its website, posted a material fact on August 28, stating that the majority of the board’s members did not favor having Wesley’s tenure as CEO come to an end. The company stated there are concrete reasons to conclude that the removal of Wesley, as a consequence of a responsibility action against him, would be premature, and therefore damaging to JBS, particularly to the company’s economic and financial stability and its capacity to commercially thrive.
During the JBS quarterly earnings call on August 15, the CEO sidestepped questions concerning his possible ouster, and instead said he viewed that planned September 1 meeting as an opportunity to show shareholders the positive things that has happened within the company in the past few months.
Brazil Authorities Arrest JBS CEO Wesley Batista
SÃO PAULO—Brazilian authorities arrested the head of JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, Wednesday for allegedly using insider trading to profit from a massive plea deal signed earlier this year amid a corruption probe. Wesley Batista, the current chief executive of JBS and the son of its founder, was arrested by Brazil’s Federal Police in an early-morning operation that came days after his brother, former JBS Chairman Joesley...
Read More at The Wall Street Journal
Brazil Police Detain JBS CEO Batista on Suspicion of Insider Trading
Brazil's federal police detained JBS SA Chief Executive Officer Wesley Batista on Wednesday, as an investigation escalated into the role played by him and his younger brother in suspected insider trading ahead of a plea bargain deal with prosecutors. The brothers' lawyer, Pierpaolo Bottini, and JBS confirmed media reports of the arrest.
Police arrest CEO of Brazil's JBS, the world's largest meatpacker
In this March 21, 2017 file photo, employees walk on the plant grounds of meatpacker JBS, in Lapa, in the Brazilian state of Parana. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
