Exclusive: First Petrobras trader flips in Brazilian trading probe

A former trader at oil firm Petrobras has signed a plea bargain agreement with Brazilian prosecutors investigating bribery allegations, defense lawyers and prosecutors said, a potential breakthrough in a case involving some of the world’s top commodity trading houses.

Rodrigo Garcia Berkowitz, who was a trader at Petrobras’ Houston office until he was charged with accepting bribes in late 2018, reached the deal in principle in December, the lawyers said. A judge then approved it in late January, they added.

In court documents, Brazilian prosecutors have portrayed Berkowitz, who went by the code name “Batman” in messages with alleged co-conspirators, as a central player in the kickback scheme and a recipient of Vitol bribes. He previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in the United States, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a separate probe of the matter, Reuters reported last February.