Verde Asset says he was a victim of fraud in Americanas crisis

Verde Asset stated in a letter to shareholders that it “was the victim of fraud” in the Americanas crisis. The fund also said that, although the loss was relatively small with the retailer’s debentures, it will seek to “exercise its fiduciary duty” to protect its shareholders.

“We have the biggest fraud in the corporate history of Brazil, a hole of more than R$ 20 billion”, said the fund in a letter released this Monday (6).

“How long has this fraud existed, who were the main perpetrators and beneficiaries, is a subject that will be widely discussed and explored in the Judiciary”, stated Verde Asset.

Americanas, which went into judicial recovery last month, is fighting an intense dispute in court with creditor banks. The group’s total debt, according to the judicial administration team, is R$ 47.9 billion.

The company’s main shareholders are Jorge Paulo Lemann, Beto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, the trio of billionaires who founded the investment company 3G Capital. Last month, they released a statement in which they say they are unaware of accounting flaws. They said they were victims, like the other shareholders of the company, and committed themselves to Americanas’ recovery process.

The Verde Asset fund also criticized Americanas for only removing executives from the company’s top management almost a month after the announcement to the market in which it disclosed “accounting inconsistencies” of R$ 20 billion in the company’s balance sheet.

“It borders on unbelievable that only 23 days after the material fact, that someone from the company, whether in the financial area or in senior management, was removed. The financial management of the company (with the exception of the newly appointed CFO) continued to be carried out by the same people throughout the following period”, stated Verde.

Last week, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized Lemann during an interview on a television program.

“The three controllers of the company, faced with the choice between contributions to repair a substantial part of the fraud, or to preserve its reputation, have been silent, but clearly chose the financial option”, stated Verde.