Accounting fraud served to enrich the billionaires Lemann, Telles and Sicupira who control the company and also have evidence of tax evasion. Billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Beto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, who control Americanas and are seen as the commercial media's “Standard Shareholder”, received part of the R$ 550.6 million dividends that the company allocated from falsified earnings through accounting fraud.
“In the last week of January last year, shareholders learned that they will receive a grand prize for 2022 from the retailer: R$ 0.62 per share out of a total of R$ 550.6 million. Its value is a record in the history of Americanas stores. According to TradeMap research for NeoFeed, from 2009 to 2017, a retailer paid from R$ 0.01 to R$ 0.04 per share. As a result of 2018, shareholders receive R$ 0.10 for the following year return to R$ 0.01. In 2020, there was significant growth for R$ 0.21. And a payment three times higher in the last period. To get an idea of what its main rivals are doing, the road has not paid dividends or interest on equity (JCP) to shareholders since 2018. Luiza magazine decided to distribute a total of R$ 100 million, or R$ 0.01 per share in the year, which corresponds to 2021. Magalu's net profit was R$ 590.7 million (very close to that of Americanas in the same year) ”, reports journalist Márcio Kroehn on the Neofeed website.
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Also “To distribute income to shareholders. The first prerequisite is that the company records revenue for the accounting period. In the case of Americanas, the company achieved a net profit of 731 million reais in 2022, which is the highest value in the history of the company with enough stars, ”adds the journalist.
fraud
In addition to accounting fraud, this case also deals with tax fraud. But, instead of opting for a dividend, Americanas opted to pay the shareholder through interest on own capital (JCP). Receivers are no different. But in the case of the company The advantage is in accounting, ”wrote one journalist. “The JCP creates a balance sheet expense that can be deducted by the tax authorities. It's a cool tax efficiencies that banks use a lot.
But JCP will only be distributed when there is net profit. And this is obviously not the case for Americanas if the information is properly considered. Consequently, less taxes were paid, ”experts say.
