In 2020, J&F Investimentos, which controls JBS, pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Brazilian officials from 2005 to 2017 and agreed to a $256.5 million U.S. criminal penalty. Separately, a 2022 report said JBS executives secretly funneled $149 million to election candidates in 2014; it also reported PwC did not know of the payments.
Executives of global meat giant JBS were secretly funnelling $US149 million in bribe payments to election candidates in Brazil’s federal election in 2014 at the time that the firm was negotiating with PwC to receive tax advice that was covered by legal professional privilege in Australia.
In a related matter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today, a J&F majority-owned subsidiary, JBS S.A., agreed to pay the SEC disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling approximately $26,866,565.
A coalition filed 14 complaints with European regulators and prosecutors, alleging JBS and financial partners facilitated money laundering tied to illegal Amazon deforestation. The coalition cited supply-chain research but said it sought investigations. JBS said it had not received the evidence or methodology and described its supplier-monitoring system, which blocks farms meeting specified risk criteria.
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — A coalition of environmental and human rights advocacy groups has filed 14 legal complaints with European financial regulators and prosecutors against JBS, the world’s largest meat company, along with its banks, investment managers and advisers, accusing them of facilitating money laundering linked to alleged illegal Amazon deforestation.
Brazilian labor prosecutors filed a civil lawsuit against JBS in Pará on April 29, 2026, alleging it bought cattle from suppliers where 53 workers were rescued from slavery-like conditions between 2014 and 2025. Prosecutors seek nearly 119 million reais (about $24 million), citing transaction value and alleging systematic negligence; JBS did not immediately comment.
Brazilian labor prosecutors filed lawsuits on April 29, 2026, against major agribusiness firms including Cargill and JBS, alleging labor abuses in their supply chains. The cases, stemming from investigations in Pará and Rondônia, matter because they could reshape compliance standards, increase input costs, and disrupt global agricultural supply chains tied to soy and livestock production.
According to AP News, Brazilian prosecutors have accused JBS of purchasing cattle from ranches where workers were subjected to conditions described as similar to slavery. The lawsuit, filed in the state of Pará, seeks roughly 119 million reais, or about $24 million, in damages tied to transactions between the company and those suppliers.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Labor prosecutors in Brazil filed a lawsuit Wednesday against meatpacking giant JBS, accusing the company of buying cattle from farms where workers were held in slavery-like conditions.
JBS showed “a systematic pattern of negligence,” the prosecutors said. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On October 28, 2025, advocacy group Mighty Earth sued JBS USA in a Washington, D.C., court, alleging that its net-zero-by-2040 claims were misleading and omitted material environmental harms. JBS categorically rejected the allegations, saying its goals were not misleading and that it was making measurable climate progress.
Mighty Earth alleges JBS made deceptive claims about its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and that "material omissions" about the environmental harm caused by its operations violated the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
In October 2025, Rondonia’s government overturned its own attorneys and rescinded a fine against JBS over cattle allegedly raised in a deforested protected area. The state attorney general later said the fine relied on legislation no longer in force. JBS cited a 2023 audit finding 94% of its cattle purchases came from legal sources.
JBS has faced legal complaints in Brazil over illegal deforestation. In October 2025, Rondonia’s government overruled its own state attorneys and rescinded a fine against JBS for trading cattle raised in a deforested protected area. The case followed a four-year investigation, but the state attorney general later said the fine relied on legislation no longer in force.
A federal labor judge ordered JBS Aves added to Brazil’s employer “dirty list” over contractor workers’ alleged slavery-like conditions, including shifts up to 16 hours and inadequate drinking water. The case followed a 2024 raid. JBS said it suspended the contractor and ended the contract; the Labor Ministry said it would appeal.
In a statement, JBS told Reuters on Thursday it immediately suspended the contractor, terminated the contract and blocked the company upon learning of the allegations. "The company has zero tolerance for labor and human rights violations," the statement added. Labor inspectors ruled on August 6 that JBS was responsible for the working conditions of the ten employees, as it failed to conduct due diligence ensuring the contractor was treating them lawfully.
A federal raid in 2024 found ten people working in slavery-like conditions for a contractor hired to load and unload cargo for a JBS poultry unit called JBS Aves, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Inspectors found that workers were subjected to illegally long shifts for as long as 16 hours and housed without access to clean drinking water. The contractor had also made unlawful deductions from workers' wages, making it harder for them to quit, the report found.
JBS suspended the contractor, terminated the contract and blocked the company upon learning of the allegations, the company told Reuters on Wednesday…
Joesley Batista, the Brazilian billionaire who shares control of JBS, met President Trump in the Oval Office on August 20, 2026, and discussed how more Brazilian beef could help if Trump dropped a 26% import tax, according to people familiar with the meeting. The report said it was unclear who arranged it.
The Brazilian billionaire who shares control of JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, lobbied President Trump to lower tariffs on beef imports as a way to tame rising U.S. prices.
OpenSecrets reported $408,000 in 2018 federal lobbying spending under JBS SA, all attributed to subsidiary JBS USA, with no direct spending by the parent. The page lists agriculture and immigration as the top issue areas and Keys Group as the hired firm receiving the reported $408,000.