The scandals surrounding JBS have led to fraud charges against 14 company officials, including brothers Joesley, Wesley and Junior Batista.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil claim in laying the charges that officials were bribed to obtain government loans to fund JBS’s aggressive binge of buying packing companies between 2007 and 2011 to become the largest meat-packing company in the world.
Among the purchases was XL Packers of Alberta after it’s value was sharply diminished by beef found contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 prompting the largest recall in Canadian history.
More recently, Ryding-Regency of Toronto, Ontario’s third-largest beef packer, was forced out of business in connection with similar recalls because its products were contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7.
