Petrobras To Pay $853 Million US Fine In Car Wash Probe

Petrobras will pay an $853.2 million fine to settle charges that former executives and directors of the state-run Brazilian oil company broke U.S. anti-corruption laws by bribing politicians and then seeking to conceal the payments, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) said Sept. 27.

Shares in Petrobras, as the company is known, were up 6.3% in afternoon trading, helped by the latest milestone in turning the page on the landmark “Car Wash” investigation, which ensnared senior executives and high ranking politicians in Latin America’s largest economy.

The state oil company was the initial epicenter of that probe, which found evidence that political appointees on its board and elsewhere handed overpriced contracts to engineering firms in return for illicit party funding and bribes.