A “cursed” emerald weighing 836 pounds and worth around $1 billion will be returned to Brazil after being kept under lock and key in Los Angeles for 15 years.
The 180,000 carat Bahia emerald was smuggled out of the South American country in 2001 by two residents.
A legal battle over the stone continued in 2014, with about a dozen individuals, companies, and the Brazilian government fighting over ownership.
On Thursday, a federal judge a favorable judgment was given The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion to have the jewelry confiscated in Brazil.
Emeralds were discovered in the Beryl Mine in 2001 and then smuggled from the rainforest to the United States by mule. Reportedly attacked by a leopard On a mission.
It is said that it once withstood flooding during Hurricane Katrina.
Kit Morrison, an Idaho businessman, eventually purchased the jewelry for $1.3 million, but reported it missing several years later. According to reports.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators located it in a safe in Las Vegas, but were unable to determine who owned the jewelry, so they seized it.
The exchanges surrounding this giant gem led to rumors that it was cursed.
Other crazy claims that have followed this stone include that it was involved in a Brazilian Mafia conspiracy and that it was part of a $197 million bank transaction with Bernie Madoff. The Post reported in 2015.
Meanwhile, Brazilian authorities claimed it was a national treasure housed in a museum, according to reports. washington post. They urged America's partners to hand over the jewelry because it was stolen, under a legal agreement between countries that allows for the exchange of evidence in criminal cases.
Finally, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said U.S. jewelry speculators had been stagnant long enough.
“The court concludes that the participants' position is insufficient to prohibit the return of the emeralds to Brazil,” Watson wrote in the decision. “Therefore, the court must enforce the Brazilian confiscation judgment of the Bahia Emeralds.”
“We are very pleased with this decision,” federal prosecutor Boni de Moraes Soares told The Washington Post. “We are closer than ever to returning the Emeralds of Bahia to the Brazilian people.”
Brazilian authorities claimed in court documents that the Bahia emerald is one of the largest, if not the largest, ever discovered.
Former owner Morrison told the outlet there was no feeling of “defeat or loss”.
“If you are an investor or an entrepreneur, you do everything you can to protect, preserve and improve your investments and opportunities,” he said. “But you can't control what you can't control.”
Barring an appeal, the stone will be handed over to Brazil in a formal handover ceremony.
