One of the most influential men in Brazil, head of the financial group Btg Pactual (the largest investment bank in South America), ended up in handcuffs. It's about Andre Esteves, chief executive officer of Btg, arrested as part of the investigation into corruption in the state oil company, Petrobras. The news immediately spread to Europe, where Btg Pactual has been very active in recent years: in particular, the Brazilian group acquired the Lugano bank Bsi (formerly Banca della Svizzera Italiana) from Generali for 1,2 billion euros.
Also Btg Pactual has holdings in Italyin Ps (whose share dropped a few weeks ago from 3,1 to 1,96%) e Carige (also in this case with a share of less than 2%). Brazilian police arrested Esteves in Rio de Janeiro. Senator Delcidio Amaral, leader of the government majority in the Senate and Dilma Rousseff's key man for economic policy, was also arrested. Police have so far not provided details on the specific allegations against Esteves and Amaral.
