For years, the name Eike Batista was associated in Brazil with power, fame, and a boatload of cash. Not anymore. Once Brazil’s richest man, the former business mogul is now a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and fined BRL 53 million for his participation in a vast corruption scheme that operated in the state of Rio de Janeiro. According to authorities, Mr. Batista paid over USD 16 million in kickbacks to Rio’s former governor Sérgio Cabral – who is already in prison and was handed a 22-year sentence in the same case.
Once featured on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List as the seventh-richest man alive, Mr. Batista has been at odds with the Brazilian legal system since January 2017, when he was briefly considered a fugitive and subsequently jailed as a part of Operation Car Wash. He was the first member of the top 10 on Forbes’ richest list to be incarcerated since Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar, back in 1991.
In May 2017, however, he was placed under a soft form of...
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