Petrobras Securities Litigation
Janus Overseas Fund, et al. v. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, et al., No. 1:15-cv-10086-JSR (S.D.N.Y.); Dodge & Cox Global Stock Fund, et al. v. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, et al., No. 1:15-cv-10111-JSR (S.D.N.Y.).
Lieff Cabraser represented several funds managed by Janus and several funds managed by Dodge & Cox in individual securities cases arising from the massive fraud at Petrobras, a state-run semi-public energy and oil-production company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Plaintiffs sought recovery under the federal securities laws for damages they suffered on transactions in Petrobras securities during the period December 29, 2010 through July 28, 2015 (the “Relevant Period”), due to a pervasive and long-running scheme of bribery and corruption at Petrobras.
Plaintiffs alleged that beginning around 2005 and continuing through the Relevant Period, the Company engaged in a scheme whereby contractors paid bribes to Petrobras executives and others in exchange for the award of lucrative oil and gas construction contracts. Some of the bribes were passed on to Brazilian politicians and political parties. The Company then paid the contractors inflated amounts under the contracts in order to repay them for the bribes. When the fraud was finally revealed beginning in May 2014, it sent shockwaves through the Brazilian government and economy, and caused Petrobras’s market capitalization to plummet. Authorities estimate the scheme has diverted up to, or more than, $28 billion from the Company’s coffers.
Lieff Cabraser’s cases were part of consolidated proceedings before Judge Jed S. Rakoff in the Southern District of New York. The parties reached settlements in the cases in October of 2016.