On December 11, 2017, the Federal Government, the MPF and the Internal Revenue Service launched operation Baixo Augusta to investigate the payment of R$ 160 million ($ million) in bribes to a tax auditor over 14 years to speed up the release of R$ 2 billion {$ million) in tax credits to the meat-processing giant JBS S.A., wholly owned by brothers Joesley Batista and Wesley Batista.