A Reuters news report today is that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-plaintiff WGI Emerging Markets Fund LLC have sued Petrobras in an action brought on in the Manhattan Federal Court. The lawsuit alleges that the Foundation has lost tens of millions of dollars in the value of Petrobras shares they hold, due to the ongoing scandas of bribery, graft and corruption surrounding Operação Lava Jato (Operation Carwash).
"In fact the scandal appears to be growing every day - with measures discovering more criminals and secret bank accounts," the action states.
The Brazilian affiliate of Petrobras auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has also been named as a defendant in the action.
Clearly things are not looking good at Petrobras right now, I'm seeing people there being laid off every day. If this lawsuit is successful and prompts other large shareholders to bring on similar suits, this really could be the death knell for Petrobras.
Cheers,
James Expat-blog Experts Team