Rio de Janeiro--Police on Friday seized a piano, the equivalent of $45,700 in cash, six cars and other possessions from the home of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, once Brazil's richest man, who is on trial for insider trading.
"They've left him without even enough money to buy bananas for his three-year-old son," Batista's attorney Sergio Bermudes told the Globo G1 news site, describing the confiscations as "an act of savagery."
The seized cars included a Lamborghini and a Porsche.
Police also carted off a century-old jeweled Faberge egg, 16 watches and a sculpture, as well as computers and cell phones.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Judge Flavio Roberto de Souza said in an interview that he is looking for evidence that Batista has sent money abroad.
In September, authorities froze $635 million in stocks belonging to Batista. This week it also blocked funds belonging to his close family members and took even more of his possessions, seizing computers, cellphones, watches and other items of value from the business tycoon.
Batista, who has denied any wrongdoing, is accused of stock-market manipulation by using privileged information last year to sell off company stock.
The former magnate, once among the world's richest men, made his fortune from mining and oil, amassing some $30 billion.
He faces up to five years in jail for allegedly deceiving investors by shelving a plan to invest $1 billion in his oil company OGX, whose production targets proved wildly over optimistic after several wells came up dry.
OGX filed for bankruptcy protection in October last year amid debts of a reported $5 billion.
The case comes with Brazil reeling from another major corruption scandal, allegedly involving billions of dollars of kickbacks at state-owned oil giant Petrobras.
AFP
