Sunday, December 28, 2014

George Soros' Cash Cow: Brazil President Cited in Lawsuit against Petrobras in U.S.

12/28/2014

SAO PAULO – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and outgoing Finance Minister Guido Mantega were among the 14 names cited in a class-action lawsuit being brought by the city of Providence, Rhode Island, in a U.S. court against Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, the online press reported Saturday.

The law firm of Labaton Sucharow, which represents the city of Providence, includes Rousseff, Mantega and another 12 businessmen and former ministers on a list of “persons of interest” in the suit being brought against Petrobras and two of the oil company’s subsidiaries.

However, the partner of Labaton Sucharow, Michael Stocker, told Brazilian media that there is no intention to make “persons of interest” in the suit, like Rousseff and Mantega, into “defendants” in the case.

Rousseff herself has said she had no knowledge of the scheme in question, by which Petrobras allegedly inflated its value by making false statements to investors.

Providence says that when the scandal broke in Brazil, the value of its investment in the oil company sank to unprecedented depths.

Stocker estimates the probable compensation for those harmed by the corruption scandal in the hundreds of millions of dollars if Petrobras is found guilty.

The state oil company is charged with diverting funds obtained through a scheme of inflating the billing for contracts with construction companies working on infrastructure projects, then funneling the money, according to the investigation, to political allies of the ruling Workers Party, or PT.

According to an article in the daily Folha de Sao Paulo, Petrobras, as a result of the scandal and the drop in international oil prices, lost this year as of Dec. 22, some 43.6 percent of its market value, currently estimated at $51.6 billion.


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