More than $60 million of American taxpayer money intended to help struggling U.S. farmers has instead been funneled to two corrupt Brazilian brothers, according to the New York Daily News.
As part of the $12 billion bailout for American farmers getting crushed by Donald Trump's trade war, the U.S. Department of Agriculture contracted to buy $22.3 million in pork products from JBS USA, a Colorado-based subsidiary of Brazil’s JBS SA, the largest meatpacker in the world. That contract got attention for obvious reasons, and then the Daily News obtained two more purchase orders from JBS of $14.5 million in February and $25.6 million in early May, bringing the total bailout funding for the meatpacking behemoth to $62.4 million.
On top of it all, the two brothers who own JBS, Joesley and Wesley Batista, have done jail time for bribing hundreds of Brazilian officials as part of an extensive corruption scheme. The brothers are also under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for potentially violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
But apparently, the Batistas now qualify as two of "Our great Patriot Farmers." America first!