Corruption scam involving bank executives. Payment of kickbacks. Graft and bribery. Extortion. Fraudulent labour claims.


Client. Major international bank acquired large Brazilian retail bank.

Problem. Three years after acquisition, a labour claims contingency of over US$300 million was identified. The amount of the losses were strategically significant, compromising senior country management. The Country Manager (who later became the Group CEO) panicked.

Investigation. Investigation revealed fraud, corruption and extortion scam involving bank’s internal and external lawyers for highballing claim values and dividing the illicit proceeds among the lawyers and the claimant. Leaders of the scam organized orgies with prostitutes and drugs. The Investigation also uncovered a second scam involving external lawyers who received confidential information from bank’s HR regarding dismissals, and then brought avalanche of identical fraudulent labour claims supported by stolen documents and primed tutored witnesses. Gross negligence was identified on the part of the headhunting division of Big 4 auditors, responsible for recruiting the corrupt employees.
Compromised employees and internal vulnerabilities were identified. A litigation strategy was developed to counter the fraudulent suits.

The names of those involved have been withheld for reasons of confidentiality.

Is your company or bank investing in Brazil? You need to know who is managing your investment. Wolfe Associates can perform due diligence on and profile senior executives.