All corporate emails received and sent by managers and board members of retailer Americanas will be seized after an order by a Brazilian court, Reuters reported.
Following a request by creditor Banco Bradesco, Sao Paulo Federal court judge Andrea Palma agreed to seize the email communications, which were sent over the last ten years.
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Americana’s directors, board members, shareholders and auditors are allegedly involved in a ‘huge accounting fraud’, according to one creditor.
Bradesco’s affidavit said that Americanas currently has R$4.7bn ($927m) of debt.
The order comes despite the retailer having sought protection under Chapter 15 of the US bankruptcy code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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The filing stops creditors from seizing a company’s assets in the US.
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By GlobalDataAmericanas previously filed for bankruptcy at a court in Rio de Janeiro amid the accounting scandal.
In a communication to its shareholders and the market, the retailer said that ‘inconsistencies’ had been detected in accounting entries, which ‘reduced the balance in the suppliers account related to previous fiscal years, including the fiscal year 2022’.
Americanas said its accounting errors were estimated at around R$20bn as of 30 September last year.
After the inconsistencies were found, the retailer’s CEO Sergio Rial and investor relations officer André Covre both announced their resignations from the company ‘with immediate effect’.
The company’s Board of Directors also decided to create an independent committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the accounting errors.
Bloomberg reported that Americanas confirmed it had misreported numbers related to some of its financing, as well as incorrectly removed interest paid to lenders from its liabilities.
Americanas operates more than 3,500 stores, which sell electronics, snacks and homeware. It employs more than 40,000 people in total.
The company’s major shareholders include 3G Capital founders Jorge Paulo Lehman, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles.
