Factory farming giant JBS begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange

On 12 June 2025, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is expected to begin trading shares of JBS - the world's largest meat producer.

This decision ignores overwhelming evidence of JBS's role in illegal deforestation, environmental destruction, animal cruelty and tax avoidance.

The NYSE is not just turning a blind eye. It is knowingly opening its doors to a corporation underpinned by criminal conduct and is may be risking complicity in money laundering.

This is not only a failure of corporate ethics. It is a threat to the rule of law, animal welfare and the future of our planet.

A climate and animal welfare criminal, now welcomed to Wall Street

JBS is responsible for the suffering of millions of animals every year.

Its industrial farming and slaughterhouse operations are characterised by extreme confinement, mutilations without pain relief, and ruthless profit-driven efficiency. But cruelty is just one part of the problem.

JBS's supply chains are linked to widespread illegal deforestation in Brazil, including land cleared in Indigenous territories and conservation areas.

According to recent investigations, JBS benefits from 'cattle laundering': moving animals from illegal farms to 'clean' suppliers to mask their origins and meet weak traceability rules.

By knowingly importing and profiting from beef tied to illegal deforestation, JBS's actions may meet the threshold for criminal conduct under US anti-money laundering (AML) law, including the Lacey Act and 18 U.S.C. §1956. These profits, now being offered to international investors via the NYSE, may be the proceeds of crime.

Tricia Croasdell, World Animal Protection CEO:

The shame is on the New York Stock Exchange as they have decided to list a climate culprit and abuser of millions of animals. We will not be silenced in exposing JBS, the biggest meat supplier in the world, as one of the most destructive, cruel, and unethical multinational corporations.

"As well as their appalling animal cruelty, JBS has amassed a litany of convictions, fines and scandals for bribery, corruption, price-fixing, human rights abuses, and devastating deforestation.

"Its emissions rival those of entire nations, which have consistently increased in recent years despite statements of net-zero goals. As we exposed in our recent report, JBS consistently shifts its profits to tax havens and away from the countries in which it operates. It is morally failing and putting profit ahead of people, animals, and the planet."

NYSE risks violating anti-money laundering laws

Mighty Earth has served a legal notice to the NYSE Board, alleging that allowing JBS to list could put the Exchange in breach of US anti-money laundering laws.

The notice argues that by potentially facilitating the sale of shares backed by profits from illegal deforestation, the NYSE could be enabling the distribution of the proceeds of crime.

It further cites the Lacey Act, which prohibits goods derived from environmental crimes committed abroad, including beef from illegally deforested areas, from entering the US market.

According to the notice, financial transactions involving such products may constitute money laundering.

The legal notice raises concerns that, by proceeding with the listing despite documented links between JBS and environmental crime, the NYSE risks being seen as wilfully blind, an accusation that could carry legal consequences.

Is JBS a responsible investment?

JBS is no stranger to scandal. Its record includes:

• Convictions and fines totalling hundreds of millions of dollars for bribery, corruption, price fixing, illegal deforestation and child labour violations

• Documented labour abuses and serious human rights violations, including the exploitation of migrant workers and unsafe working conditions
• Tax avoidance through offshore profit shifting, depriving governments of vital public funds
• A consistent failure to meet its own climate and deforestation commitments, despite repeated public promises

World Animal Protection previously highlighted these issues when JBS attempted to list in 2021. Nothing has changed. The crimes have continued, the emissions have grown, and the animals have continued to suffer.

The NYSE must be held accountable

The NYSE has a responsibility to uphold the integrity of the US financial system. Listing JBS would not only violate its ethical duties, it may break the law.

This is a grave mistake that could legitimise environmental destruction, reward animal cruelty, and normalise the laundering of illicit profits through global finance.

World Animal Protection, along with civil society partners in the Drop JBS coalition, will continue to expose this injustice and hold all parties accountable.