BTG Founder Esteves Acquitted in Brazil Witness Tampering (1)

Andre Esteves, the founder of investment bank Banco BTG Pactual, was cleared by a Brazil federal judge of charges he participated in a corruption scheme, which had led to his arrest in 2015.

Judge Ricardo Leite acquitted the banker on July 12, saying there was no “valid proof” for a conviction, according to a court document. In September, prosecutor Ivan Claudio Marx had recommended that the charges be dropped.

Esteves spent three weeks in Rio de Janeiro’s Bangu prison in late 2015, charged with participating in a scheme to tamper with testimony of a former Petroleo Brasileiro SA executive, Nestor ...