TheGrantLawFirm, PLLC announces that it has commenced an investigation
into a potential fraud class action against Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. -
Petrobras (“Petrobras” or the “Company”) (NYSE:PBR) which trades
American Depository Receipts (“ADRs”), on behalf of purchasers during
the period between May 20, 2010 and November 21, 2014 (“Class Period”).
This investigation further focuses on the actions of
PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores Independentes (“PwC”) and
PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (“PwC-IL”) in connection
with the dissemination of materially false and misleading statements by
Petrobras in violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Securities Act of 1933 in relation to their audits of Petrobras during
the Class Period. During that time, PwC repeatedly issued clean audit
opinions on PBR’s financial statements filed on Form 20-F with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), despite
Petrobras’s purported overstatement of the value of its property, plant,
and equipment on its balance sheets. The overstatements were the result,
of among other things, the Company’s alleged engagement in a
money-laundering bribery scheme and has involved it in an investigation
which the Company now claims may cost approximately $57 million this
year and last up to two years. Throughout the Class Period, PwC also
reviewed PBR’s quarterly financial statements filed on Form 6-K with the
SEC and consented to the use of its clean audit opinions in the
Company’s registration statements.
As a consequence of this scheme, and PwC’s involvement, the Company’s
stock has traded at significantly inflated prices through the Class
Period, before the revelations of the alleged fraud was disclosed.
If you would like to discuss this investigation with us, or believe that
you may have been damaged by these acts, please contact Jorge Amador at
212-292-4449/jamador@grantfirm.com or Lynda J. Grant at
212-292-4441/lgrant@grantfirm.com. Jorge Amador is a forensics
accounting expert and class action attorney who is a native Spanish
speaker, with fluency in Portuguese. Lynda J. Grant has been
representing wronged investors for over 30 years, and was recently
selected as a New York Metro Superlawyer.
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