How an 836-pound ‘cursed’ emerald traveled the Americas, ruining lives and bankrupting men

Los Angeles Times ^ | Dec. 13, 2024 3 AM PT | Clara Harter

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It was an ordinary day at his Los Angeles law office when John Nadolenco opened a letter from Brazil enlisting his help in a mission to retrieve a stolen, and quite possibly cursed, 836-pound emerald.

The year was 2014, the heyday of the Nigerian prince email scam, and the up-and-coming attorney was no fool. “I immediately thought it was just completely fake, a total hoax,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m not falling for this one. I’m smarter than this.’”

He tossed the letter in the trash.

But Nadolenco’s boss asked if, as a favor, he could look into the Indiana Jones-esque request to reclaim the Bahia Emerald. So Nadolenco skeptically reached out to a colleague in his firm’s Brazil office.

He was flabbergasted to learn that not only was the Bahia Emerald real, but the Brazilian government was genuinely interested in using his legal skills to retrieve the gem, which was being held in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s custody amid lawsuits over its ownership.

The emerald had been plucked from a mine in the Carnaíba mountain range, located in the Bahia region of northeastern Brazil.

“Bahia Emerald” is a misnomer because it is not one gem but nine dazzling crystals encased in a rough black rock 30 inches wide and 33 inches high. Each crystal is as thick as a Coke bottle, and one is believed to be the largest single emerald ever found.

But how did the stone, which weighs about as much as a full-grown bison, end up in L.A. County? And how could Brazil get it back? It was Nadolenco’s mission to find out.

The stone, he learned, was smuggled to the U.S. in 2005, and a series of lamentable tales — some fact, some fiction — have followed...

[lee martell]

Score two Coals for you!

[Billthedrill]

Morrison paid $1.3 million upfront for the diamonds, but the deal fell through and he suddenly found himself the unintentional owner of an 836-pound emerald.

I hate it when that happens. One minute you got a business deal, the next minute you got a rock, and then somebody else takes that away. Would have made an awesome door stop.

[deks]

When I closed the paywall popup the whole article was available. Or try this...

https://paywallreader.com/

[1_Rain_Drop]

click on the “X” in the upper right hand corner and you can read the article. Twists and turns. Fun!

[CFW]

paywall free article here:

https://archive.ph/IFHPG

[Organic Panic]

Greed.

[Vaduz]

WOW one of the world’s most famous gemstones — the 180,000-carat Bahia Emerald.