The Transnational Legal Coalition (TLC) filed, this Wednesday (4), 14 complaints on suspicion of money laundering against JBS, the company's financiers and service providers in four European countries. Notifications were forwarded to regulatory agencies in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The complaints point to an alleged relationship between the company and illegal deforestation in the beef supply chain, including on indigenous lands. A survey used to support the accusations associates direct and indirect JBS suppliers with around 6.6 million hectares with records of deforestation since 1988.
When contacted, JBS states that it did not have access to the full content of the complaints and, until the last update of this report, had not sent a position.
Although the survey considers records of deforestation between 1988 and 2026, most of the devastation identified occurred before July 2008. On the properties of JBS's direct suppliers, 98% of the deforested area was felled between 1988 and July 2008. Among indirect suppliers, who supply other farms before the cattle arrive at the company, this percentage was 96%.
In addition to the meat producer, the complaints target 12 of its main financiers, as well as lawyers and accountants.
The TLC brings together legal, environmental and investigative organizations that seek to coordinate legal actions in different countries against companies and financial institutions involved in possible environmental violations.
For Octavio Ferraz, lawyer and law professor at King’s College London, who is part of the coalition, the objective is to provide the authorities responsible for supervising financial institutions with evidence about possible risks associated with the JBS supply chain in Brazil.
"The idea of using the money laundering law for environmental crime is new. This law was created for other types of crime, such as corruption and drug trafficking. The innovation of these actions is exactly to open a new front and use a law that is already known to try to combat environmental crime", he states.
The thesis is that, faced with signs that resources may be linked to environmental crimes, banks and other financial service providers would have an obligation to carry out in-depth checks and, when necessary, notify the authorities.
“The material collected at the request of TLC is enough to turn on the red light for European financiers, who have an obligation to be alert in relation to clients who may be involved in crime, be it environmental crime, or any type of crime”, says Ferraz.
The allegations affect JBS and financial institutions, managers, auditors and a law firm, including Barclays, Standard Chartered, Banco do Brasil, Bank of Montreal, Rabobank, ING, BlackRock, EY, KPMG and Loyens & Loeff.
Study shows deforestation of 6.5 million hectares
Of the total areas identified by the survey, 3,393,271 hectares are associated with JBS's direct suppliers and another 3,204,576 hectares with indirect suppliers. In the sample analyzed, more than 80% of suppliers presented records of deforestation in protected areas, such as Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs).
To reach the results, the study, commissioned by TLC, crossed information from Animal Transit Guides (GTAs), records from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and deforestation monitoring data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
As GTAs record the transport of batches of cattle, and not the individual movement of each animal, the data does not allow for the precise reconstruction of the cattle's entire journey. The coalition itself recognizes that it is not possible to state that an animal raised on a property with illegal deforestation was later slaughtered in a JBS slaughterhouse.
According to TLC, crossing this information makes it possible to identify movements of cattle between properties and slaughterhouses and identify situations with a greater risk of irregularities. The survey also uses satellite images to verify the occurrence of deforestation in the areas analyzed.
What Banco do Brasil says
To g1, Banco do Brasil states that it did not have access to the aforementioned complaint nor to any materials related to the alleged occurrence of money laundering.
"It is worth noting that Banco do Brasil maintains policies, procedures and controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, in accordance with applicable legislation and regulations.
In relation to social, environmental and climate aspects, BB adopts procedures to identify, evaluate, monitor and manage the risks associated with its operations and relationships, in compliance with applicable regulations and internal rules.
Between the years 2024 and 2025, this set of mechanisms allowed Banco do Brasil to avoid directing R$44.4 billion in financing to areas not aligned with socio-environmental guidelines, as disclosed in the Environmental Conservation Strategy Chapter of the ASG Booklet for the respective years.
BB also observes SARB 26, Febraban's Banking Self-Regulation standard that establishes guidelines for managing the risk of illegal deforestation in the beef chain.
Regarding specific operations, Banco do Brasil does not provide information legally protected by banking secrecy", says the company, in a note.
