RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO—Trading giants Vitol, Trafigura, and Glencore paid over $30 million in bribes to employees at state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil prosecutors said on Dec. 5, in a graft scheme they believe is ongoing.
Top executives of the international companies had “total and unequivocal” knowledge of the graft scheme, which began in 2009, investigators said at a news conference in Brazil, adding that the details being made public were just the “tip of the iceberg.”
