Americanas hires Zanin for legal dispute against BTG.
BTG Pactual bank is attempting to seize R$ 1,2 billion from the retailer's cash reserves. The case is currently before the Superior Court of Justice.
247 - Americanas has hired former President Lula's (PT) lawyer Cristiano Zanin, who is being considered for a seat on the Supreme Federal Court (STF), to defend it in the case before the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), in which the BTG Pactual bank is trying to seize R$ 1,2 billion from the retailer's cash reserves.
After Americanas disclosed "accounting inconsistencies" totaling R$ 20 billion, BTG and other banks froze the company's funds, forcing it to file for bankruptcy protection to avoid collapse. With the asset freezes and advances blocked, the company nearly ran out of cash.
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Americanas: the fraud and default of billionaires
In early 2023, Brazilians were shocked by the biggest accounting fraud in Brazilian history: the manipulation of R$ 20 billion in the financial statements of Americanas, a retail company controlled by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira, and Marcel Telles, three of the richest men in the country.
The fraud was surprising because it directly targeted three figures revered by economic journalism as "heroes" of Brazilian capitalism, who also control Ambev and were involved in the privatization process of Eletrobrás, carried out under cover of night. Inexplicably, the fraud was also not detected by the auditors at PwC, one of the world's largest auditing firms.
The scandal culminated in a multi-billion dollar default to creditors, which will result in greater restrictions in the private credit market, with negative repercussions for economic growth. Furthermore, employees lost their jobs, tens of thousands of investors saw their assets vanish, and more than a thousand investment funds, including fixed-income funds, were negatively affected.
To complete the catastrophe, the controlling shareholders refused to recapitalize the company, even after receiving dividends on fabricated profits for several years. Besides defrauding creditors, the case also shows signs of tax fraud. And the company owners, who are the main proponents of the "meritocracy" thesis, wielding strong influence on the public agenda, flaunt a luxurious lifestyle, with assets such as yachts, helicopters, and ultra-luxurious private jets.
To carry out this project, TV 247, which currently has nearly 1,2 million subscribers on its channel and a history of several successful documentaries, will interview investors, employees, suppliers of Americanas, as well as authorities responsible for regulating and overseeing the capital market. Among the professionals at TV 247 are renowned names in Brazilian professional journalism, such as Leonardo Attuch, Florestan Fernandes Júnior, Luís Costa Pinto, Helena Chagas, Tereza Cruvinel, Joaquim de Carvalho, Hildegard Angel, and Mario Vitor Santos.
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