Brazil ex-billionaire on trial for insider trading
Nov 18, 12:58 PM EST
Brazil ex-billionaire on trial for insider trading
By JENNY BARCHFIELD
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Eike Batista, the flamboyant Brazilian tycoon once named No. 7 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people, went on trial Tuesday in an insider trading case that could make him the first person in the country to go to prison on such charges.
The 58-year-old former billionaire who once reveled in the limelight made a now-rare public appearance with his arrival Tuesday at a federal criminal court in Rio de Janeiro.
It's the latest chapter in a vertiginous fall that saw Batista's estimated $30 billion fortune evaporate over the past two years as his oil, mining, logistics and shipbuilding empire crumbled. Batista often used to say he hoped to dethrone Mexico's Carlos Slim to become the world's richest person, but now says he's $1 billion in debt.
~snip~
Experts say the trial marks a shift in Brazil, where the rich and powerful were long considered above the law. It follows a 2012 corruption trial seen as striking a blow against impunity when the Supreme Court convicted 25 top operatives of the governing Workers' Party in a cash-for-votes scheme.
More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_BRAZIL_BILLIONAIRE_TRIAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-18-12-58-53