Brazil's Once Wealthiest Man Sentenced To Over 8 Years In Prison - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2019) Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, who was at some point the richest person in the country, has been sentenced to eight years and seven months in prison for insider trading, local media report.

The Supreme Federal Court in Rio de Janeiro found Batista guilty on Monday, Brazilian newspaper O Globo said. Batista, 62, was convicted of market manipulations and using classified information for selling shares in his shipbuilding company OSX.

In addition to the prison term, Batista will also have to pay a fine of $28.5 million.

The businessman was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2018, for paying millions in bribes to get government contracts. He was under house arrest, when he was taken into custody in August, as part of a money laundering probe.

Batista's personal fortune peaked at around $30 billion in 2012, according to Forbes, which made him the richest man in Brazil and one of the wealthiest people in the world.