Conservative congressman from Wyoming wants to pack JBS

Wyoming Representative Harriet M. Hageman is best known for ending the political career of former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney. Hageman has now asked Gary Gentler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to reject the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of JBS, SA, an international meatpacker.

Over the past year, JBS has applied for permission to list its shares on both the original Sao Paulo Stock Exchange and a dual listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Significant opposition to JBS’s financial plan has been organized, largely by the left-wing organization ‘Ban the Batista’, which advocates a global boycott of JBS products. But Hageman is one of the most conservative members of Congress, and she wants to bring the hammer down on JBS just as she did on Cheney.

In her letter to the SEC chairman, she says she has “deep concerns” about JBS. “For years, JBS engaged in illegal activities to tighten its stranglehold on the global meat processing market.” Wyoming’s lone congressman said criminal convictions make JBS a serious threat to American investors, America’s agricultural community and food affordability.

“In the past seven years alone, JBS and its holding company J&F Investments, and U.S. subsidiaries owned and controlled by convicted corporate criminals Joesley and Wesley Batista, have incurred at least $3.4 billion in fines and penalties in the U.S. and Brazil penalties imposed,” Hageman told SEC. . She said these amounts include fines imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Hageman argued that JBS’s “history of bribery, deceit and corruption” is enough to “prevent the SEC” from approving the dual listing. She calls the brothers. Joesley and Wesley Batista for “blatant disregard for good corporate governance.” The brothers went from being defendants in the Brazilian legal system to being re-elected to the JBS board.

The group calling for a global boycott of JBS, “Ban the Batistas,” opposes what it calls “the unchecked power grab by the majority shareholders, brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista.”

“JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, and its owners, the infamous Batista Brothers of Brazil, plan to list their shares on the New York Stock Exchange. This IPO must be stopped,” said Ban the Batistas. “Giving JBS access to the U.S. stock market enables and rewards the corrupt, dangerous and criminal conduct of the Batista brothers at the expense of American farmers, consumers and investors.”

JBS USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS, SA, also has a dominant presence in North America.

Ban the Batistas” is a creative group. After the brothers got themselves voted back onto the JBS Board of Directors, ‘Ban the Batistas’ created ‘Joesley Day’, in honor of May 17, 2017, when the bribery recording came out with serious consequences for the Sao Paulo stock market. It was the day the government of Brazil almost fell.

Hageman, an attorney elected to Congress, said: “JBS poses an unacceptable risk to investors, and the dual-listing request should be rejected.

Hageman’s letter follows one last January, when a bipartisan group of U.S. senators raised similar concerns.

The decision to list Brazilian meat processor JBS SA on the New York Stock Exchange was postponed until the second half of 2024.

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