400 Million Dollar Emerald

An 840 pound emerald - the worlds largest - is unearthed in Brazil in 2001. The resulting tale of deceit, obsession, and folly is almost too bizarre to be believed. A businessman claims to have bought it in Brazil for a mere $60,000, only to see his proof of purchase vanish in a suspicious house fire. Another man obtains title to the emerald, only to lose it in a diamond deal that falls through, he says, because he was kidnapped by the Brazilian mafia. In between, the emerald spends weeks submerged underwater in a New Orleans vault after Hurricane Katrina. By the time the stone finds it's way into the California judicial system in 2008, no fewer than eight claimants are tussling for control of a specimen appraised at around $400 million.