–OpEd–
SÃO PAULO — A few weeks ago, the Brazilian weekly television news program Fantástico aired a seven-minute report on recent rape allegations made by hundreds of victims against Mohamed Al-Fayed, the late owner of the luxury British department store Harrods.
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According to reports, the UK-based Egyptian businessman targeted young attendants during his visits to the stores, and they ended up falling into a web of sexual abuse. Although Al-Fayed died in 2023 at the age of 94, the journalists explain, “the scandal continues to grow.”
Following accusations made by five women in a BBC documentary that aired in September, London police say that some 400 women and witnesses have come forward with allegations, and over 90 alleged victims have been identified. Police now believe Al-Fayed (also famous for being the father of Dodi Fayed, killed alongside his girlfriend Princess Diana in 1997) may have raped and abused at least 111 women and girls over nearly four decades, with his youngest victim said to have been just 13 years old.
Since the #MeToo movement, we’ve heard stories like this over and over again. Powerful businessmen who use their power, money and influence to abuse women, sometimes creating networks of sexual exploitation that last for years or decades. Here in Brazil, however, one of the biggest scandals involving a powerful businessman remains hidden from the general public — the press simply doesn’t give it the attention it deserves.
As Agência Pública revealed in 2021, Samuel Klein, founder of Casas Bahia, one of Brazil’s largest retail chains specializing in furniture and home appliances, abused and exploited girls and women, many of them children and teenagers, for at least three decades, setting up a network that included the use of “recruiters” to find his targets.
A corporate scandal
The scandal is even worse because it involved using the structure of the country’s most popular retail chain and one of its most recognized brands — Casas Bahia has consistently ranked among the “top of mind” brands in national rankings.
According to investigations by Agência Pública and UOL, the “king of retail”, as Klein was known, used cash from different stores to “pay” his victims for alleged sexual services (it is important to note that sex with minors under 14 years old is considered rape of a vulnerable person by law).
Agência Pública revealed that he kept a small room with a bed adjacent to the president’s office at the company’s headquarters in São Caetano do Sul, where he committed these abuses sometimes multiple times a day.
All this happened without the Klein case receiving significant media attention.
We revealed that cars, helicopters and yachts were used in this sexual exploitation scheme. We found that the abuse began in the 1980s and victimized hundreds of girls and women. This represents the use of one of Brazil’s most important companies’ structure for sexual crimes. So it’s clear that this isn’t just a sex scandal — it’s a corporate scandal.
Casas Bahia was so implicated in this exploitation network that in 2021, when the first reports were published, the Public Labor Ministry of São Bernardo do Campo opened a civil inquiry to investigate possible corporate responsibilities. In 2023, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill extending the statute of limitations for reparative actions regarding sexual crimes against children and adolescents from three to 20 years. The bill by congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim was inspired by Agência Pública‘s investigation.
No repercussion in media
All this happened without the case receiving significant media attention — while major outlets devoted considerable energy to disputes over Klein’s inheritance and investigations into crimes committed by his son Saul, who, as noted by Casas Bahia’s press office, “has never had any connection with the company.”
Regarding its founder Samuel, Casas Bahia says that it “has no relation to the facts mentioned in the report” and that “the information in the publication refers to a period before 2010 when the company was still controlled by the Klein family.” At the time of Agência Pública’s initial publications in 2021, only digital newspapers like Poder 360 republished and echoed the story.
In other words, the Brazilian public does want to know more about this criminal operation.
The frustration over media silence was not limited to Agência Pública journalists. Flavia Lima, the then ombudsman of Folha de S.Paulo, one of the main national newspapers, questioned the newspaper about this issue in her brilliant column “On Invisible Sexual Crimes” back in 2021.
“Despite widespread circulation on social media and coverage by outlets like Nexo and El País as well as magazines like Marie Claire and Claudia, major outlets ignored this story. Unlike what usually happens in cases of this magnitude, mainstream media did not investigate or republish the material,” Lima wrote.
After the ombudsman’s column, the newspaper covered the topic in print and produced an episode of their podcast Café da Manhã on it. Then the subject died down.
Popular podcast
It is not for any journalism editor to question other outlets’ editorial decisions. Freedom of the press is fundamental to democracy and the plurality it demands. Yet we can’t help but wonder why a real Brazilian “Jeffrey Epstein Case” continues to go unnoticed here. Why does the press pick up international stories but ignore national cases?
If before there was no “news hook” — i.e. a current event that deserved to be investigated by reporters — this is no longer the case. Since the beginning of November, Agência Pública has been independently broadcasting the first season of a four-part podcast detailing Klein’s crimes.
Why are we not responding as press outlets?
We interviewed more than 60 people and reviewed more than 5,000 pages of court cases. For an entire month, Caso K – The Hidden Story of Casas Bahia’s Founder has ranked among Spotify‘s top five most listened-to podcasts.
In other words, the Brazilian public does want to know more about this criminal operation. It is the job of the press to ensure that a crime of this magnitude becomes exemplary so that it never happens again.
No one held accountable
At this moment, dozens or even hundreds of victims remain without state support or compensation for their traumas. They remain alone. Neither Klein, who died in 2014, nor any other accomplices have been held accountable for their crimes. Nor has Casas Bahia been compelled to address this economic abuse perpetrated within its headquarters over decades.
You have not seen extensive reports explaining how Brazil’s most beloved retail chain was exploited for so long or which authorities failed to fulfill their duties.
Who were the security guards and drivers? Who were the lawyers who attempted to silence these women? The economic and accounting implications should also receive coverage in business newspapers. How did the company mask these cash withdrawals? Were there accountants who helped cover up this criminal network?
These are all questions journalism should seek answers to. Why are we not responding as press outlets? Why are we failing to fulfill our role?
