Deep impact
Trouble at the most celebrated investment bank in the emerging markets
AS THE founder and boss of BTG Pactual, a Brazilian investment bank, André Esteves has been a shrewd and hyperactive dealmaker. But on November 25th some of those deals appeared to sour, when he was arrested in Rio de Janeiro as part of a vast bribery investigation centred on Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil-and-gas giant.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Esteves and Delcídio do Amaral, a prominent lawmaker from the party of Dilma Rousseff, the president, tried to help Nestor Cerveró, a former Petrobras director who has since been convicted of corruption, to escape trial. According to the police, Mr Esteves was willing to stump up 4m reais ($1.1m) to spirit him out of the country. Messrs Esteves and Amaral protest their innocence.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "Deep impact"
From the November 28th 2015 edition
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