A California man is trying to prove he owns a 380kg emerald dug up in the Brazilian jungle, but a group of businessmen say he’s nothing more than a tourist who had his picture taken with it.
It’s up to a Los Angeles judge to determine if Anthony Thomas really owns the US$400 million Bahia Emerald, which has spent the past 10 years on a mysterious journey across the US.
Thomas testified on Tuesday that he bought the gem in 2001 for US$60,000, but he said he never received it. Instead, he claimed, the Brazilian miners who sold it to him kept it and told him the shipper lost it so they could resell it.
After that, the rock turned up in New Orleans, where it was housed in a bank vault that flooded during Hurricane Katrina. It was also reported stolen from a storage facility in Los Angeles before authorities finally seized it in Las Vegas.
Thomas’ attorney introduced 25 photos of Thomas with the stone while it was still in Brazil.
However, attorney Andrew Spielberger, representing a handful of businessmen who say they bought the gem for US$1.3 million, dismissed the photos as little more than tourist snapshots.
Thomas said the photos were taken at a celebration commemorating his ownership of the gem. He said he also received a bill of sale but lost that when his house burned down.
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