Ban the Batistas Issues Statement on Cross-Party Coalition Sounding Alarm on Meatpacking Giant’s Ongoing Risks to Global Public Interest
NEW YORK, NY (October 29, 2024) – Executive Director of Ban the Batistas, Jason Elan, issued a statement in response to a letter sent by a cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) calling on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to reject JBS’s application for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE):
“The letter sent by European leaders underscores just what is at stake if JBS’s efforts to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange move forward unimpeded. Any move to strengthen JBS’s position in the United States market will have reverberations around the world, from further pillaging of our environmental resources to endangering the integrity of the global financial market. We applaud this move by the MEPs to put pressure on Chairman Gensler and ask for the only action that will hold JBS accountable: block their IPO.”
“For too long, JBS has been blatantly skirting environmental regulations and greenwashing its supply chain, manipulating meat prices in the face of record-high inflation, and simply paying off any adjudication with a fine amounting to a drop in the bucket for the world’s largest meat processor. It’s time to hear a commitment from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to act because the future of millions of farmers, ranchers, and consumers is in their hands.”
The letter, signed by Miriam Lexmann, MEP, Committee on International Trade; Pina Picierno, MEP, Committee on Petitions; Engin Eroglu, MEP, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs; and Christine Singer, MEP, Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, comes on the heels of Brazil’s environmental agency fining JBS for buying and selling cattle from illegally deforested Amazonian land. JBS, which is the biggest purchaser of cattle supply in the Amazon, has faced scrutiny for its cattle laundering practices – and covering them up – for years.
About Ban the Batistas
Ban the Batistas is an advocacy group fighting to protect American farmers, ranchers, consumers, and investors from the risks of a U.S. stock listing by JBS S.A. and the unchecked power grab by its majority shareholders, brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. Learn more at banthebatistas.com.
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Katya Myagkova
