News

Anti-graft advocates in France have launched the first case in the nation's history tying an environmental crime to a suspected money-laundering scheme, alleging in a complaint that the country's three largest banks handled proceeds from illegal deforestation. The complaint, which Paris-based advocacy group Sherpa filed with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, or PNF, on Wednesday, alleges that BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, BPCE and insurance firm Axa financed or otherwise served JBS and Marfrig, global food suppliers that news outlets had already linked to illegal logging, forced labor and land grabs in Brazil. JBS, the world's leading meat processing enterprise, supplies...