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Former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas arrested amid allegations of billions in fraud

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Former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas arrested amid allegations of billions in fraud
News

News

Former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas arrested amid allegations of billions in fraud

2024-06-29 05:04 Last Updated At:05:11

SAO PAULO (AP) — The former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas, Miguel Gutierrez, was arrested Friday in Madrid, accused of participating in a 25 billion reais ($4.5 billion) fraud scheme.

Brazil’s Federal Police added his name to Interpol’s red notice list after determining the company falsified financial results to inflate cash flow and artificially boost the company's stock. Former directors committed fraud by advancing payments to suppliers through loans, engaging in market manipulation, insider trading, criminal association and money laundering, according to a statement from investigators.

The probe began in January 2023 after Gutierrez's successor took over as CEO and soon disclosed a cash shortfall of 20 billion reais ($3.6 billion).

Gutierrez’s lawyer told the local press that his client has cooperated with authorities and denies any involvement in the fraud scheme.

Gutierrez, who is also a Spanish citizen, joined Americanas in 1993 and held various positions, gaining the trust of stakeholders Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Marcel Telles and Jorge Paulo Lemann — a multi-billionaire and Brazil's second richest person.

Federal prosecutors said that the company's board has cooperated with the investigation by providing information about the fraud scheme.

Brazil's federal government has yet to receive an extradition request for Gutierrez from the court. Brazil signed an extradition treaty with Spain in 1988, stipulating that each country may refuse to extradite its own nationals. The Spanish national police neither confirmed nor denied the arrest.

On Thursday, the Brazilian Federal Police executed 15 arrest warrants and search and seizure orders for other former Americanas directors in Rio de Janeiro and seized their assets. Lemann, Sicupira and Telles were not included in this police raid.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

The retail store Lojas Americanas is open for business in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2024. The former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas, Miguel Gutierrez, was arrested Friday, June 28, 2024, in Madrid, accused of participating in a fraud scheme that involved the company. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

The retail store Lojas Americanas is open for business in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2024. The former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas, Miguel Gutierrez, was arrested Friday, June 28, 2024, in Madrid, accused of participating in a fraud scheme that involved the company. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump made their final pitches to voters Monday in the same part of Pennsylvania, at roughly the same time, spending the last full day of the presidential campaign in a state that could make or break their chances.

Focusing on the state's southeast corner. Trump took the stage in Reading, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from Allentown, where Harris held her own event about half an hour later.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax,” Trump said. “It’s over.”

Indeed, a Trump victory in Pennsylvania, flipping its 19 Electoral College votes, would puncture the Democrats' “blue wall” and make it harder for Harris to win the necessary 270 votes.

Harris, the Democratic nominee, spent all of Monday in Pennsylvania, the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome. In addition to Allentown, she visited Scranton — the birthplace of President Joe Biden — and had a stop planned in Reading before ending with a late-night Philadelphia rally that was to include Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

“Are you ready to do this?” Harris yelled Monday in Scranton, with a large handmade “VOTE FOR FREEDOM” sign behind her and a similar “VOTE” banner to her side.

Trump went first to North Carolina before visiting Reading. He will head to Pittsburgh, at the opposite end of the state, before concluding in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he will hold his last campaign rally in the same place he concluded his 2016 and 2020 runs.

Southeast Pennsylvania is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population. Harris and her allies have repeatedly hit Trump for a comedian's dig at Puerto Rico during the former president's marquee Madison Square Garden event. The comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

“It was absurd,” said German Vega, a Dominican American who lives in Reading and became a U.S. citizen in 2015. “It bothered so many people — even many Republicans. It wasn’t right, and I feel that Trump should have apologized to Latinos.”

But Emilio Feliciano, 43, waited outside Reading’s Santander Arena for a chance to take a photo of Trump’s motorcade. He dismissed the comments about Puerto Rico despite his family being Puerto Rican, saying he cares about the economy and that’s why he will vote for Trump.

“Is the border going to be safe? Are you going to keep crime down? That’s what I care about,” he said.

Trump stuck to talking about his proposed crackdown on immigration. He called to the stage Patty Morin, the mother of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, who was found dead a day after she went missing during a trip to go hiking. Officials say the suspect in her death, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country of El Salvador.

About 77 million Americans have voted early. A victory by either side would be unprecedented.

A Trump victory would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted and convicted of a felony, after his hush-money trial in New York. He will gain the power to end other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also become only the second president in history to win non-consecutive White House terms, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

Harris is vying to become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office — four years after she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming President Joe Biden’s second in command.

The vice president ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden’s disastrous performance in a June debate set into motion his withdrawal from the race — one of a series of convulsions that have hit this year’s campaign.

Trump survived by millimeters an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. His Secret Service detail foiled a second attempt in September, when a gunman had set up a rifle as Trump golfed at one of his courses in Florida.

Harris, 60, has pitched herself as a generational change from 81-year-old Biden and Trump, who is 78. She’s emphasized her support for abortion rights after the 2022 Supreme Court decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion services, and she has regularly noted the former president’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Assembling a coalition ranging from progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, Harris has called Trump a threat to democracy and late in the campaign even embraced the critique that Trump is accurately described as a “ fascist.”

Heading into Monday, Harris has mostly stopped mentioning Trump by name, calling him instead “the other guy.” She is promising to solve problems and seek consensus.

Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillion said on a call with reporters that not saying Trump’s name was deliberate because voters “want to see in their leader an optimistic, hopeful, patriotic vision for the future.”

Harris talked in Scranton about once being a longshot while running for San Francisco district attorney in 2002 and how she “used to campaign with my ironing board.”

“I’d walk to the front of the grocery store, outside, and I would stand up my ironing board because, you see, an ironing board makes a really great standing desk,” Harris said, recalling how she would tape her posters to the outside of the board, fill the top with flyers and “require people to talk to me as they walked in and out.”

In Allentown, home to tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans, the vice president rallied with rapper Fat Joe. Later, she’s scheduled to visit a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading with Ocasio-Cortez. Both Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, and Ocasio-Cortez, are of Puerto Rican heritage.

Standing in line for Harris’ Allentown rally, 54-year-old Ron Kessler, an Air Force veteran and Republican-turned-Democrat, said he planned to vote for just the second time in his life. Kessler said that, for a long time, he didn’t vote, thinking the country “would vote for the correct candidate.”

But “now that I’m older and much more wiser, I believe it’s important, it’s my civic duty. And it’s important that I vote for myself and I vote for the democracy and the country.”

As recently as Sunday, Trump renewed his false claims that U.S. elections are rigged against him, mused about violence against journalists and said he “ shouldn’t have left” the White House in 2021 — dark turns that have overshadowed another anchor of his closing argument: “Kamala broke it. I will fix it.”

Superville reported from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Barrow reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Zeke Miller, Will Weissert and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

A supporter arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A supporter arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Chelsey Salama, right, hands out fliers while volunteering with the Abandon Harris movement encouraging voters to choose Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Chelsey Salama, right, hands out fliers while volunteering with the Abandon Harris movement encouraging voters to choose Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Supporters arrive before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Supporters arrive before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Attendees holding the flag of Puerto Rico cheer as Allentown, Pa. Mayor Matt Tuerk speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees holding the flag of Puerto Rico cheer as Allentown, Pa. Mayor Matt Tuerk speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

An image of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump hangs in the window of a campaign office as a pedestrian passes by, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Hamtramck, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An image of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump hangs in the window of a campaign office as a pedestrian passes by, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Hamtramck, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Scranton, Pa., Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Scranton, Pa., Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Women for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump show their support as he arrives to speak during a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Women for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump show their support as he arrives to speak during a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on Air Force Two at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Scranton, Pa., Monday Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on Air Force Two at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Scranton, Pa., Monday Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump wraps up a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she walks to board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she walks to board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, en route to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with reporters on board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, before departing to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with reporters on board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, before departing to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with reporters on board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, before departing to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with reporters on board Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Monday Nov. 4, 2024, before departing to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

This combination of photos shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, speaking at a campaign event Sept. 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, N.C., and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaking a campaign event Oct. 19, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

This combination of photos shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, speaking at a campaign event Sept. 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, N.C., and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaking a campaign event Oct. 19, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Kinston Regional Jetport, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Kinston Regional Jetport, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at a campaign rally at Kinston Regional Jetport, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at a campaign rally at Kinston Regional Jetport, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A supporter wears decorative Converse sneakers on a necklace as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A supporter wears decorative Converse sneakers on a necklace as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Supporters listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks campaign rally at Kinston Jet Center, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Supporters listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks campaign rally at Kinston Jet Center, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Kinston, N.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is reflected in the bullet proof glass as he finishes speaking at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is reflected in the bullet proof glass as he finishes speaking at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands before the start of an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands before the start of an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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