The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público Federal – MPF) indicted Joesley and Wesley Batista for their involvement in a corruption scheme involving the governor of Mato Grosso do Sul, Reinaldo Azambuja. According to the MPF, JBS allegedly paid R$67 million (around US$ 12 million at that time) in bribes to Azambuja and other defendants in exchange for tax exemptions and other benefits for the business group. The evidence was gathered during the Federal Police’s Operation Lama Asfáltica (“Asphalt Mud”), and the case is currently awaiting judgment in the Mato Grosso do Sul courts.

Joesley Batista and Ricardo Saud, a former executive at J&F Investimentos—the holding company of JBS—were arrested for the second time by the Brazilian Federal Police. Operation Capitu, conducted jointly with the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal), investigated a scheme involving the payment of bribes to officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária – MAPA) in exchange for measures to benefit the JBS group's companies, according to G1. Joesley was released after three days.

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).

The Brazilian Federal Police arrested Andrea Neves, sister and advisor to former Minas Gerais governor Aécio Neves, as part of Operation Patmos, as reported by G1. According to the investigation, she allegedly requested money from Joesley Batista on her brother’s behalf to fund his multi-million-real legal defense against charges stemming from Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato). The investigation originated from Joesley’s plea bargain, in which he claimed that Aécio had requested R$2 million (approximately US$ 644,000 at the time).

The release of recordings by Joesley Batista involving then-president of Brazil Michel Temer triggered a political crisis and a sharp drop in the stock market—an episode that became known as “Joesley Day.” According to the recordings, published on the website of the newspaper O Globo, they were part of a plea bargain agreement in Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato). Joesley and his brother, Wesley Batista, admitted to bribing nearly 2,000 politicians and confessed to corruption schemes, including paying bribes to the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and influencing operations at Caixa Econômica Federal, a state-owned bank. As part of the plea deal—which included the payment of R$10.3 billion (around US$ 3.16 billion at that time)) over 25 years—they both avoided serious penalties. In 2023, Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Dias Toffoli suspended the remaining payments still owed by the company.