Paraguay Banks Pledging Sustainability Financed Companies Owned By Businessman With Record of Environmental Crime

OCCRP and Het Financieele Dagblad report that Paraguayan banks Sudameris and Banco Continental loaned $36 million to companies owned by Brazilian agribusinessman Ulisses Rodrigues Teixeira, who admitted in a 2022 plea deal to environmental crimes related to a 2012 fire that destroyed protected forest. Despite public commitments to avoid financing illegal deforestation, the banks accepted protected land as collateral and continued lending (including a $15 million post-plea loan and a $21 million loan in 2024), prompting calls from NGOs and former officials for stricter environmental due diligence and monitoring; the banks cited internal environmental checks and declined to discuss specific clients.