- Authorities are investigating ex-Vale (NYSE:VALE) CEO Fabio Schvartsman's response as they explore whether a culture of retaliation at the company contributed to the deadly mine-dam collapse that killed 270 people on Jan. 25.
- The incident came less than four years after another dam owned jointly by Vale and BHP in the same Brazil state also burst, killing 19 people and leaving hundreds homeless.
- Vale's top managers received an anonymous email warning about the state of the miner’s dams two weeks before the most recent disaster, a note that prompted Schvartsman to pursue the writer's identity and call the person a "cancer."
- Schvartsman said he believed the anonymous email to be from an employee who was disgruntled over his policies.