Americanas Says Previous Management Team Committed Fraud
- Preliminary findings from independent body published in filing
- Ex-CEO Miguel Gutierrez and team signaled as culprits: filing
This article is for subscribers only.
The previous management team at Brazilian retailer Americanas SA carried out fraudulent accounting practices and hid them from investors and the board of directors, according to a filing on Tuesday and comments from the current chief executive officer.
The former executive team, led by then Chief Executive Officer Miguel Gutierrez, created false advertising contracts as a way to reduce costs on the balance sheet that ballooned to 21.7 billion reais ($4.5 billion) as of Sept. 30 2022, according to the filing that was based on information from an independent investigation. In addition, part of the money was shifted into suppliers accounts to cover the hole, the findings show.