Brazilian lender Caixa chief set to resign over harassment reports

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Brazilian lender Caixa chief set to resign over harassment reports

BRASILIA Reuters said Pedro Guimaraes, the chief executive of Brazilian state lender Caixa Economica Federal and a close ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, is about to resign due to reports that he is being investigated by federal prosecutors for sexual harassment.

A group of Caixa employees complained about sexual harassment, according to the news website Metropoles, late on Tuesday.

Guimaraes is set to be replaced by Daniella Marques, an Economy Ministry official, according to a separate source told Reuters.

Guimaraes had been Caixa's top executive since January 2019 when Bolsonaro took office. He had appeared in his weekly social media live streams several times, and power brokers in Brasilia had considered him a potential running mate for Bolsonaro, who is up for re-election in October.

Guimaraes, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Rochester, previously worked at the investment bank BTG Pactual and at the Brasil Plural, where he was a partner.

Neither Caixa nor the Bolsonaro office responded immediately to requests for comment on Wednesday. It was not immediately possible to contact Guimaraes directly.