Brazil's J&F agrees to pay record $3.2 billion fine in leniency deal
J&F Investimentos, controlling shareholder of the world's largest meatpacker JBS SA , agreed to pay a record-setting 10.3 billion real ($3.2 billion) fine for its role in corruption scandals that threaten to topple President Michel Temer.
The settlement meant Brazil's sweeping graft investigations have now led to the world's two biggest leniency fines ever levied, Brazilian prosecutors said.
J&F's penalty surpassed the 8.5 billion reais Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht agreed to pay for its role in the political graft scandal convulsing Latin America's biggest economy.
"The payments will be made exclusively by the holding company and should start in December 2017," prosecutors said in a statement late Tuesday, adding that J&F would have 25 years to make the payments. The installments will be adjusted based on the benchmark IPCA consumer price index.
The settlement follows testimony from J&F's owners Joesley and Wesley Batista that they spent 600 million reais to bribe nearly 1,900 politicians in recent years, revelations that have deepened Brazil's political crisis.
