Wesley Batista was arrested by the Brazilian Federal Police during the second phase of Operation Tendão de Aquiles, which investigated the use of inside information to gain profits in the financial market. According to G1, the operation took place between April and May 2017, when details of the plea bargain agreement signed between J&F executives and the Office of the Attorney General (Procuradoria-Geral da República – PGR) became public. Wesley was released on February 20, 2018, by decision of the Superior Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justiça – STJ).

Joesley Batista was arrested for the first time along with Ricardo Saud, a former executive at J&F Investimentos, the holding company that controls JBS. According to G1, the arrests were triggered by audio recordings in which Joesley and Saud suggested that a public prosecutor was assisting them with their plea bargain agreements, made as part of Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato). Joesley was released several months later.

In a video published by G1, Joesley Batista admitted to paying around R$400 million (approximately US$ 129 million at the time) in bribes to politicians, in cases that began with interventions in the board of directors of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) in 2004 and, over time, expanded to the financing of electoral campaigns. According to Batista, the amount constituted bribes disguised as political donations. “There are official payments, cash 1, via political campaigns; there are cash 2 payments; there are payments via cash,” said Joesley in his plea bargain agreement, through which he sought to avoid the penalties he faced in various Federal Police operations and investigations by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público Federal – MPF).