A massive, 836lb emerald thought to be worth as much as $1bn, and rumored to be cursed, will return to its home soil of Brazil, a US court ruled this week.
“We’re very happy with the decision,” federal prosecutor Boni de Moraes Soares told The Washington Post of the decision. “We’re closer than ever to bringing the Bahia emerald back to the Brazilian people.”
Kit Morrison, an Idaho trader who’s part of a group that claimed ownership over the gem, told the paper he accepted the ruling.
“I don’t have any feeling of defeat or loss,” he said. “When you are an investor and entrepreneur, you do everything you can to protect, preserve and improve the investment and opportunity. However, you cannot control the things that are out of your control.”
The Bahia Emerald, which was mined in Brazil in 2001 and smuggled to the US, has long been the subject of competing claims of ownership.
The ruling likely brings an end to its chaotic journey through the Americas.
The gem was carried out of the Brazilian rainforest by a team of mules, one of which was attacked by a panther. In the US, Hurricane Katrina hit one warehouse where it was stored, and the gem was stolen from another facility in Los Angeles. It also almost became a part of a transaction involving fraudster Bernie Madoff.
The emerald was eventually seized in Las Vegas and came to the attention of the Brazilian government when a dispute between gem dealers landed in a Los Angeles court. Under the country’s constitution, all mining assets in the country belong to Brazil, and a permit would be required to remove the emerald.
In 2015, a California court declared Morrison and his consortium had the rightful and good faith ownership of the emerald. However, that same year, the US Department of Justice initiated a federal court action to seize the rock, pending the completion of a case in Brazil alleging it was illegally mined.
In the intervening years, the emerald was held for safekeeping with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
By 2021, the Brazilian court ordered the forfeiture of the emerald. The following year, the Justice Department filed a motion in court seeking to return the emerald to Brazil under a mutual legal assistance treaty.
