(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian Federal Police carried out its most extensive operation yet to punish those responsible for a massive fraud at retailer Americanas SA with arrest and search warrants issued in Rio de Janeiro.

While the police didn’t identify the two people targeted with detention, they were ex-chief executive officer Miguel Gutierrez and director Anna Saicali, according to people familiar with the case who aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The police said the two targets have fled the country and Interpol alerts were issued for their arrest.

Gutierrez’s defense team said in a statement that they weren’t given access to the specific orders carried out by the police on Thursday but that “he never participated in or knew about any fraud” and is collaborating with authorities where required. 

Gutierrez has been living in Spain for nearly a year and O Globo reported that Saicali recently traveled to Portugal. Saicali didn’t reply to a message seeking comment and attempts to reach her attorneys were unsuccessful.

Some 15 search and seizure orders were also carried out early Thursday seeking to clarify the role of former employees in the crime, according to a police statement. The Police are looking into possible accounting and marketing fraud, market manipulation and use of privileged information.

A Federal Court ordered the seizure of assets of the former directors worth more than 500 million reais.

The case, which rocked the local business and financial industries in early 2023, is one of Brazil’s biggest corporate scandals ever with a multi-year fraud that was calculated at some 25.3 billion reais ($4.6 billion). Americanas alleges the previous executive team hid the scheme from investors and the board of directors. 

“Americanas reiterates its confidence in the authorities investigating the case and reinforces the fact that it was a victim of fraud by the former management team which manipulated the internal controls,” the firm said in an e-mail. 

Until now, investigations by the police, public prosecutor’s office and securities regulator had failed to produce any concrete actions to penalize those responsible. A congressional investigation last year ended with no concrete takeaways beyond agreeing that a fraud had been committed. 

The case took on even more attention since the largest shareholders of Americanas are also some of Brazil’s wealthiest businessmen. Billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Telles have owned the business since the early 1980s and have agreed to inject 12 billion reais into the company as part of a recovery plan to overhaul 50 billion reais of debt. 

Gutierrez, who called himself a scapegoat in written comments last year, worked at the retailer for several decades and had the trust of the key shareholders. Saicali also spent more than 25 years at the firm in different roles including the head of a fintech unit, according to her LinkedIn page.

Americanas remains in bankruptcy protection after reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure its debt. Its shares are down 55% this year to 0.41 reais a piece with a market value of 370 million reais.

--With assistance from Rachel Gamarski, Daniel Carvalho and Gabriel Diniz Tavares.

(Adds comment from Gutierrez’s defense team in third paragraph.)

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