An international coalition of lawyers and advocacy groups has filed 14 legal actions in four European jurisdictions against JBS and several institutions that work with the meat company. The complaints allege money laundering and complicity in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest through JBS’s purchases of cattle from land deforested in violation of Brazilian law.
The actions target JBS, as well as affiliated banks, an asset manager, accounting firms and lawyers. The coalition says European Union anti-money laundering rules require institutions to carry out enhanced due diligence on businesses whose supply chains carry a high risk of deforestation. It alleges that the institutions failed to meet those obligations despite JBS’s sourcing practices.
The coalition also filed a criminal complaint against JBS with Dutch prosecutors, accusing the company of money laundering. Among the institutions named in the actions are Barclays and Rabobank, BlackRock, and accounting firms KPMG and EY. Barclays said it had reviewed the complaint and could not comment, adding that it has conducted enhanced due diligence for clients involved in beef production since 2021. JBS, Rabobank, BlackRock, KPMG and EY did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.
The Transnational Legal Coalition, which filed the complaints, says the actions are the first in a planned series focused on deforestation in JBS’s supply chain. A study commissioned by the coalition and conducted by AidEnvironment linked JBS to more than 16 million deforested acres through direct and indirect suppliers.
JBS is headquartered in the Netherlands and continues to operate extensively in Brazil, sourcing much of its beef from the Amazon and nearby ecosystems. The company completed its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2025 after reincorporating in the Netherlands.
The legal actions come as JBS has retreated from some of its climate commitments. In its annual sustainability report issued in July, the company abandoned its previous target of net-zero emissions by 2040 and no longer mentioned its goal of eliminating deforestation linked to its Brazilian supply chains.
Sources: Inside Climate News.