Andre Esteves: Brazil Billionaire Arrested in Petrobras Case

Andre Esteves, one of Brazil’s richest businessman, has been arrested as part of the corruption investigation into the state oil giant Petrobras.

Andre Esteves, the chief executive of BTG Pactual, is one of the most senior businesspeople arrested in the corruption case.

He was reportedly arrested at his home. Documents were seized both from there and from the bank’s headquarters in Sao Paulo.

The government’s leader in the Senate, Delcidio Amaral, was also arrested.

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Andre Esteves is Brazil’s 13th richest man, worth an estimated $2.5 billion.

Federal police also searched the senator’s offices in Congress. No reasons or details have been given by the police for either arrest.

According to the Brazilian media, police claimed the politician was detained because he was obstructing the course of an investigation.

Authorization for both arrests was given by Brazil’s Supreme Court.

More than 100 people have now been arrested in the two-year investigation, including politicians and former top executives at Petrobras, and some of Brazil’s biggest construction companies.

On November 24, police arrested businessman and rancher José Carlos Bumlai, a friend of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in an investigation into loans benefiting his companies and President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers’ Party.