3G Capital Insider Trading Claim Revived in US$1.2 Billion Case
Markets: São Paulo
Key Facts
—The claim. Austrian asset manager Erste Asset Management, part of Erste Group Bank, is pursuing US litigation that accuses 3G Capital and several principals of insider trading in Kraft Heinz shares.
—The firm. 3G Capital is the investment firm co-founded by Brazilian billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, and run by managing partner Alexandre Behring.
—The allegation. Erste alleges 3G and certain Kraft Heinz insiders sold about US$1.2 billion of stock in 2018, before the shares plunged, while holding material non-public information. 3G and Kraft Heinz deny wrongdoing.
—The revival. Delaware’s Supreme Court revived the case in June 2025, reversing a 2024 dismissal and sending it back to the Court of Chancery.
—The backdrop. A separate US securities case has also allowed an insider-trading claim against 3G to proceed to discovery over the same US$1.2 billion in share sales.
3G Capital, the firm of Brazilian billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, is again facing US insider-trading accusations over about US$1.2 billion in Kraft Heinz share sales, after a Delaware court revived a long-running case.
An Austrian Fund Revives an Old Accusation
An Austrian asset manager has reopened one of the most closely watched corporate disputes tied to Brazil’s most prominent investors. Erste Asset Management, an affiliate of Erste Group Bank, is pursuing litigation in the US state of Delaware that accuses 3G Capital and several of its principals of insider trading in shares of Kraft Heinz.
The allegations are contested and unproven. 3G Capital and Kraft Heinz have denied wrongdoing, and an earlier version of the lawsuit was dismissed before the case was revived on appeal. No court has found the defendants liable.
Still, the revival puts renewed legal scrutiny on 3G Capital, the firm co-founded by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, three of the best-known names in Brazilian and global business.
What 3G Capital Is Accused Of
At the center of the case is a set of stock sales worth about US$1.2 billion that 3G made in 2018. Erste alleges those sales took place while 3G and certain Kraft Heinz insiders held material non-public information about problems at the company, and before that information became public.
In February 2019, Kraft Heinz disclosed a US$15.4 billion writedown of the value of some of its best-known brands and revealed a US regulatory investigation into its accounting. Its share price fell sharply. Erste argues that 3G sold before that fall; 3G rejects the claim.
Kraft Heinz was created in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz, a deal engineered by 3G Capital and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. 3G has long been associated with an aggressive cost-cutting playbook at the food giant.
How the Case Was Revived
The dispute has taken a winding path through Delaware’s courts, which handle many of the biggest US corporate cases. An initial lawsuit was dismissed in 2021, and a later attempt by Erste to reopen it was rejected by a lower court in August 2024.
In June 2025, however, Delaware’s Supreme Court reversed that decision and sent the matter back to the Court of Chancery. The justices found that a lower court should have considered new evidence about a Kraft Heinz director’s consulting arrangements, which Erste says were misrepresented.
The ruling did not decide whether 3G engaged in insider trading. It reopened the door for Erste to press its claims, and the court signaled that its reasoning was limited to cases where alleged misrepresentations impaired a party’s ability to argue its case.
3G’s Defense
3G Capital and Kraft Heinz have consistently denied the accusations. When Erste first sought to reopen the case, an attorney for Kraft Heinz dismissed the effort as spin, arguing that the new arguments did not amount to fresh evidence of wrongdoing.
The defendants, who include 3G Capital and figures associated with the firm and Kraft Heinz’s former leadership, are represented by prominent US law firms, among them Paul, Weiss, Potter Anderson and Kirkland & Ellis. They had earlier persuaded courts to throw out the original claims.
Because the matter remains in litigation, the allegations are unproven and the defendants are entitled to contest them. This report describes the claims as accusations, not as findings of fact.
Who Is 3G Capital
3G Capital is a private investment firm with deep Brazilian roots and a global footprint. Its founders built their reputation through Banco Garantia in the 1980s and went on to control some of the world’s largest consumer companies, including the brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev and the fast-food owner Restaurant Brands International.
Lemann, Sicupira and Telles are among the wealthiest people in Brazil and have featured on global rich lists for years. Their reputation as disciplined, cost-focused operators has made 3G both admired and, at times, controversial.
The trio’s name has surfaced in other controversies, including the 2023 accounting scandal at the Brazilian retailer Americanas, in which they were major shareholders and which they have said they did not orchestrate. Those matters are separate from the Kraft Heinz case.
What Happens Next
With the case back before the Delaware Court of Chancery, the next phase is likely to involve discovery, the exchange of documents and testimony that could shed light on what 3G and Kraft Heinz insiders knew when the 2018 sales took place. A separate US securities case has already allowed an insider-trading claim against 3G to proceed to discovery over the same share sales.
For investors, the stakes are reputational as well as financial. A firm built on a name for disciplined stewardship now faces a renewed, closely watched test of whether that reputation holds up under legal scrutiny. Any outcome is likely years away, and the defendants maintain they did nothing wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is accusing 3G Capital of insider trading?
Erste Asset Management, an affiliate of the Austrian lender Erste Group Bank, is pursuing the case in Delaware. It alleges 3G Capital and certain Kraft Heinz insiders sold about US$1.2 billion of stock in 2018 on material non-public information. 3G denies wrongdoing.
What did the Delaware Supreme Court decide?
In June 2025 the court revived the case, reversing a 2024 dismissal and returning it to the Court of Chancery. It ruled that new evidence about a director’s consulting arrangements should be considered, but it did not decide whether insider trading occurred.
Has 3G Capital been found guilty?
No. The allegations are contested and unproven, and no court has found the defendants liable. 3G Capital and Kraft Heinz deny the accusations, and the matter remains in litigation.
Sources
Bloomberg Law · Kessler Topaz · Food Dive · Bloomberg Law (response)
Connected Coverage
Sources: Bloomberg Law, Kessler Topaz and Food Dive.
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