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Nearly a quarter-century ago, a giant, malformed emerald was illegally wrenched from Brazilian soil and smuggled across the ocean and into the United States, where it has been the object of intrigue, obsession and dispute ever since.
Many have claimed to be the rightful owner of the 379kg Bahia emerald, reputed to be the world’s largest, which is worth as much as US$1 billion ($1.7b). Their legal battles have endured for so long and ensnared so many participants – including, ultimately, the Federative Republic of Brazil – that people have taken to calling the rock cursed.
For more than 15 years, it has languished inside the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, as criminal and civil cases over the rock tarried in two continents, and journalist after journalist took up the story.
But now the Brazilian emerald is finally poised to come out – and head home.
On Thursday, United States District Judge Reggie B. Walton said a request by the American and Brazilian governments to return the emerald to its native country can move forward, brushing aside pleas from a consortium of US gem spectators who claimed to be the rightful owners.
“We’re very happy with the decision,” said Boni de Moraes Soares, a federal prosecutor who specialises in international disputes. “We’re closer than ever to bringing the Bahia emerald back to the Brazilian people.”
The 379kg Bahia emerald, reputed to be the world’s largest, is worth as much as $1.7 billion and was illegally smuggled from Brazil. Photo / Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Kit Morrison, an Idaho businessman who had claimed to be the gem’s rightful owner and asked US authorities to refrain from returning it to Brazil, said 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.”
He didn’t respond to a question asking whether he intended to appeal.
Much of the case centred on Brazil’s claim that the emerald had been illegally removed from the country. It pointed to a pair of criminal convictions in Brazil it had secured against two Brazilian gem prospectors whom it had accused of illegally procuring the emerald in 2001 and then fabricating customs documents to take it to the United States.
Brazil says the Bahia emerald is a national treasure and belongs inside a museum. Photo / Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Once in the United States, the gem sucked into its orbit a string of fortune seekers and gem speculators. One of the few who put any real money toward it was Morrison, who paid US$1.3 million for a stake in selling it. Following a lengthy ownership dispute, a California state court in 2015 declared that Morrison and his consortium were the rock’s bona-fide good faith purchasers.
But Brazil wanted it back. It said the emerald was a national treasure and belonged inside a museum. A Brazilian court issued a forfeiture order.
The Brazilian Government asked its American counterparts to step in under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, a diplomatic accord that compels signatories to assist in transferring evidence in criminal matters.
The American gem speculators tried to stall, saying they needed time to develop a settlement with the Brazilian Government.
On Thursday, Watson said time was up.
“The court has concluded that the intervenors’ positions are insufficient to prohibit the return of the emerald to Brazil,” Watson wrote. “The court must therefore enforce the Brazilian forfeiture judgment of the Bahia emerald.”
