JBS USA, an American food processing company and wholly owned subsidiary of Brazilian food company JBS S.A., has named Kevin Arquit chief legal officer.
In this newly created role, Arquit will be responsible for leading the company’s global legal, ethics, and compliance efforts, JBS announced in a press release.
Arquit will be a member of the executive leadership team and report to JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira. He officially joins the company May 3 and will support its compliance efforts in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Kim Pryor will remain general counsel for JBS in the United States.
Arquit joins JBS USA from law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, where he most recently served as a partner. His earlier roles include serving as partner and co-head of the global antitrust/competition practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges; head of the antitrust practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and former general counsel at the Federal Trade Commission and director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
His antitrust experience particularly will come in handy amid a wave of class-action lawsuits and proposed settlements facing JBS. On Feb. 23, Pilgrim’s Pride, the second-largest chicken producer in the United States and majority owned by JBS, became the first company to plead guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids in the broiler chicken industry and was ordered to pay a $108 million criminal fine.
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