Bribery at Petrobras: the US plea and the Brazilian settlement

analysisAccording to the Justice Department, Trafigura and its co-conspirators paid bribes to Petrobras officials from about 2003 to 2014, agreeing from 2009 on payments of up to 20 cents a barrel concealed through intermediaries and offshore accounts, and earned about $61 million. Trafigura Beheer B.V. pleaded guilty on 28 March 2024; the department credited its cooperation and remediation but noted early failures to preserve documents and slow discipline, and counted a 2006 US plea by Trafigura AG and a 2010 Dutch conviction over petroleum waste in Côte d'Ivoire as prior misconduct. On 28 March 2025 Brazil's Comptroller General and Attorney General of the Union signed a leniency agreement with the company under the Anti-Corruption Law, under which it pays R$ 435,410,672.26 in fines and compensation to the Union and Petrobras, according to a business news site. ^{1 2 3}

qualification

The CGU and AGU announcement itself was not retained; its terms are known from a news site and from the group's own summary.

response

In its 2025 bond prospectus the group said the conduct in Brazil was inconsistent with its principles, contractual terms and code of conduct, and noted that the Justice Department had credited its cooperation and its 2019 decision to stop using third-party agents for business origination.

outcome

In March 2025 TBBV settled on the same facts with the Brazilian authorities: the Justice Department credited USD 26.8 million towards that resolution and TBBV agreed to pay an additional USD 49 million.

analysisPetróleo Brasileiro S.A. is controlled by the Brazilian state: in September 2026 the federal government held 50.26% of its ordinary shares. ¹

analysisAccording to a Swiss non-governmental organisation, Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, a Trafigura executive until November 2016, was sentenced in Brazil in 2018 and 2019 for eight corrupt payments to Petrobras made through his company Decal do Brasil, and later convicted in Switzerland for a ninth. ¹

qualification

The convictions are known from a non-governmental organisation's summary; the Brazilian and Swiss judgments were not retained.