Americanas Fraud Was $1 Billion More Than Previously Suspected

An accounting scandal that engulfed Americanas SA last year was deeper than the Brazilian retailer previously reported, according to long-delayed financial reports it released Thursday.

Americanas said the size of the fraud was 25.2 billion reais ($5.2 billion) as of the end of the end of last year — about 5 billion reais more than it previously estimated. The accounting issues stemmed from supply chain financing and false advertising contracts.

The updated figures, published in a filing Thursday, add a layer of complexity to one of Brazil’s largest corporate meltdowns. One of the nation’s largest brick-and-mortar retailers, Americanas sank into ...