The greater international anti-corruption world was stunned earlier this year when the Brazilian meat-packing giant JBS paid $3.2bn to settle its massive bribery and corruption scheme that netted over 2,000 politicians in their corrupt web. There was much criticism at the time that the two leaders of the company, brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista got off scot free, with Wesley staying on as CEO of the disgraced company. Yet, the brothers could not seemingly control themselves with the sweetheart deal.

First was the nearly four hour recording of brother Joesley bragging about how he omitted evidence when presenting testimony to prosecutors. Somehow this recording was then turned over to prosecutors who revoked Joesley’s immunity and plea agreement which had kept him out of jail.

Equally troubling was the news that both brothers had engaged in insider trading prior to the announcement of the settlement with the company back in May. After the announcement, the company stock dropped as much as 37 percent. According to reports, however, the brothers “dumped the company’s shares and stockpiled U.S. dollars before the deal they reached with prosecutors was made public.” Their actions would seem to rival those of executives from Equifax who dumped company shares before making public the disaster data breach of the organization.

The actions of the Batista brothers highlight a part of any corruption resolution, literally across the globe, from Brazil to the United States to the United Kingdom. It is if you hold back information from the government, you will be subject to prosecution for those crimes as well. Moreover, if you engage in other criminal activities you could be prosecute for those other crimes as well. This means if you engage in insider trading to dump stock before a resolution becomes public, your immunity from corruption charges will not protect you going forward. 

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