article_snippet: We've either settled with six people or beaten six people in court to show that We are the bonafide purchaser of this emerald.
article_snippet: However, part of it allure--indeed, part of what led to a valuations of nearly $400 million--is in it convoluted history.
article_snippet: The LA Sheriff's Dept came to possess the internationally known stone after at least eight gem dealers, investors and thieves had one-by-one come to own--or believe investors and thieves owned--all 180,000 carats of it .
article_snippet: Kryptonite for investors: The rock at one point was used as ill-fated collateral for business investment and a diamond purchase but now sits in legal limbo after slipping through the fingers of so many .
article_snippet: However, the lore surrounding Bahia makes the lore surrounding the Bahia a valuable collector's item .
article_snippet: The gem has remained in an undisclosed Los Angeles County facility ever since--through years of legal wrangling between eight different parties who claimed ownership at one point or another.
highlights_snippet: At least eight rogues, thieves and gem traders have at some point laid claim to the 840-pound rock that was culled from the jungle in 2001 .
  
highlights_snippet: The over a decade-long saga of lies and betrayal have turned the huge but low-quality emerald into a nearly priceless art piece .