Lula Likens Brazil’s Lemann to Eike Batista in Americanas Case
- Brazil’s president says retailer collapsed due to ‘fraud’
- Lehman may face same fate of ex-billionaire Batista, he says
Outside an Americanas store in Brasilia, Brazil, on Jan. 21.
Photographer: Gustavo Minas/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the collapse of retailer Americanas SA was a result of “fraud” committed by one of its biggest shareholders, Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann.
The leftist leader, speaking in a TV interview that will be aired later Thursday, compared Lemann, Brazil’s richest man, to Eike Batista, who occupied the same position before his companies collapsed and he was briefly arrested for bribery and market manipulation.