Missing with grains: businessman is reported for 120 scams and fraud of over R$ 20 million

The Public Ministry of Paraná (MPPR) indicted last Friday (10) Celso Antônio Fruet, a 72-year-old businessman in the cereal sector, who defrauded at least 120 rural producers and illicitly profited R$ 20.3 million in the municipality of Campo Bonito, in western Paraná. The fraudster was the owner of a cereal company. Even after selling his business to a regional cooperative, he continued to negotiate grains with various farmers, acquiring and receiving goods without making payments. According to Justice Prosecutor Ana Carolina Lacerda Schneider, the sale of his company generated a profit of over R$ 40 million. The MP is in the process of verifying the destination of the money. According to the investigation, the indicted individual had the business for about 30 years in the region and operated by storing bags of soybeans and wheat from farmers in the silos of his property. The victims received notification of the fraud on July 21 of this year when, upon going to Fruet's commercial ...