The news comes during the same week that it was revealed one of the meatpacker’s subsidiaries donated $5 million to Trump’s inauguration.
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The news comes during the same week that it was revealed one of the meatpacker’s subsidiaries donated $5 million to Trump’s inauguration.
April 23, 2025
April 23, 2025 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cleared JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, for listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday, and the company announced it will hold a shareholder vote on the listing on May 23.
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Environmental organizations, animal welfare groups, and investors have been fighting to keep the Brazilian company from achieving an IPO for about a year and half based on allegations of bribery, corruption, and environmental destruction.
Many of those groups decried the SEC’s approval of the registration. In one statement, Laura Fox, a research scholar in Yale Law School’s Law, Environment, & Animals Program, said that by not resolving allegations that the company made misleading claims about its role in driving climate change and biodiversity loss, the SEC failed in its obligation to protect investors.
“The SEC should have thoroughly investigated these concerns to prevent investors from being misled and to ensure that corporate greenwashing does not further fuel climate destruction and ecological harm,” Fox said.
A spokesperson for the SEC said the agency cannot comment on “a specific issuer or filing.”
Many groups also called attention to the fact that earlier this week, records revealed the largest donor to President Trump’s inauguration was Pilgrim’s Pride, a chicken company JBS has owned since 2009.
“A $5 million donation from JBS subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride was a blatant attempt to buy political favor and seek approval for critical regulatory decisions, including JBS’s ongoing push to list on the New York Stock Exchange,” Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz said in a statement. “The amount was five times what tech giants contributed, underscoring JBS’s aggressive strategy to gain influence over the Trump administration and avoid accountability.” In the past, Mighty Earth has filed complaints with the SEC on JBS’s governance and practices.
Experts have been calling attention to other actions the administration has taken that have benefited major donors in other sectors: A report released this week by the nonprofit Public Citizen found that Pilgrim’s Pride is just one of 58 companies that donated to the second Trump inauguration who are also facing federal lawsuits or investigations.
In 2020, Trump’s SEC and Department of Justice found JBS engaged in a bribery scheme to take over Pilgrim’s Pride and fined the company more than $250 million. However, Trump’s USDA also gave JBS $78 million in taxpayer funds used to bail out farmers during his first trade war.
The White House did not respond to Civil Eats’ questions about the inaugural donation and the SEC’s registration approval. (Link to this post.)
July 30, 2025
From Oklahoma to D.C., a food activist works to ensure that communities can protect their food systems and their future.
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