Ex-Americanas CEO Says He’s Scapegoat for ‘Powerful Figures’ (1)

The former chief executive officer of embattled Brazilian retailer Americanas SA Miguel Gutierrez spoke out for the first time since the company sank into bankruptcy protection and pointed a finger at the firm’s billionaire shareholders.

Gutierrez, who worked at the retailer for more than two decades and has been signaled by current and former executives as the architect behind a massive accounting fraud that caused the firm’s debt to double, sent his comments in a document to a court in Sao Paulo. He argued that he never participated, authorized, ordered, tolerated or was aware of any attempt to manipulate the ...