Former President of US Giant Arrested in Madrid – DW – 06/28/2024

The former president of Brazilian distribution giant Americanas, Miguel Gutierrez, suspected of involvement in an accounting fraud amounting to about $4.6 billion, has been arrested in Madrid, the Federal Police (PF) of Brazil said on Friday (06/28/2024). .

“We confirm his arrest,” the PF said in an email, without specifying details of the possible extradition of Gutierrez, who has dual citizenship of Brazil and Spain and is on the Interpol wanted list.

The group’s president from 2003 to 2022, Gutierrez, along with other members of Americana’s leadership, was the target of a massive police operation launched Thursday, with two arrest warrants and 15 searches.

Anna Cristina Ramos Saikali, the former director of the company, who was also the subject of an arrest warrant, has not yet been found by authorities.

Americanas, which currently has more than 1,700 stores in Brazil, said on Thursday it was “the victim of fraud by its former management who deliberately manipulated internal controls.”

The scandal erupted in January 2023 when the company reported billions of dollars in “discrepancies” in its accounts, related in part to procurement finance transactions that were not “correctly recorded.”

Americana’s price on the Sao Paulo stock exchange immediately fell and the company was placed into foreclosure.

According to the Pension Fund, the “biggest fraud in the history of the Brazilian financial market” resulted in a hole in the accounting records worth 25.3 billion reais, which is about $4.6 billion at current exchange rates.

As a result of this accounting fraud, the company’s market value was artificially inflated.

gs (afp, efe)