J&F Investimentos, a Brazilian holding company, has agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $256.5 million for its role in a widespread corruption scheme that took place over several years. JBS, a J&F majority-owned subsidiary and the largest meat producer in the world, reached a related settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, providing lessons in how not to operate an anti-corruption compliance program.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...