Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Bob Menendez of New Jersey have asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to investigate the owners of meat packer JBS SA to see if they used proceeds from a bribery scheme to expand their U.S. operations. Organization for Competitive Markets Executive Director Mike Eby says it’s good the Senators have asked for the investigation into one of the big four major meatpackers to make sure they’re conducting business properly.
He says past actions of JBS SA have not been above board as they previously admitted to bribing Brazilian government officials to secure over $1 billion in loans.
Eby says having this investigation requested now comes at a good time given all the oversight actions lately of alleged anti-competitive actions by the 4 largest meatpackers.
In addition to past bribery cases, JBS SA last October paid a $256 million fine to the Justice Department over charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
