The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust is suing Petróleo Brasileiro SA, a.k.a. Petrobras, saying that the company manipulated them into losing millions, according to CNN Money.
Petrobras is no stranger to controversy. The oil company was in serious trouble last year after allegations of money laundering came to light, the company was thought to be losing more than $2 million in bribe money earlier this year
Now they are being accused of lying on their balance sheets about their earnings, a move that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation feels caused them to invest millions, money they would not have invested if they had known the truth, Reuters reported.
The trust said in a suit filed Thursday that the oil giant was involved in "pervasive bribery" and a "money laundering scheme."
The trust joins a growing list of complainants, like WGI Emerging Markets Fund, which joined in the Thursday's suit.
According to court documents, the trust believes that the corruption within the Brazilian company was so widespread and ingrained that it became "institutional," and that the auditor for the company, also named in the suit, ignored any legal wrongdoings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"The depth and breadth of the fraud within Petrobras is astounding. By Petrobras's own admission, the kickback scheme infected over $80 billion of its contracts, representing approximately one-third of its total assets," said the suit filed in a Manhattan federal court.
