Edemar Cid Ferreira

Edemar Cid Ferreira (31 May 1943 – 13 January 2024) was a Brazilian economist, banker, and art collector.^[1] He was the founder and head of Banco Santos, which went bankrupt in September 2005.^[2][3] Ferreira was convicted in Brazil of bank fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.^[4] He began serving 21-year prison sentence in December 2006.^[5] As part of the case, a judge ordered the search, seizure and confiscation of assets that were acquired with illegally obtained funds from Banco Santos. Ferreira assembled a 12,000-piece art collection while he controlled Banco Santos.^[4] Before his arrest, he smuggled his collection out of Brazil.^[1] The United States government seized items from a storage facility in New York that did not comply with customs laws. They returned Basquiat's Hannibal painting, a Roy Lichtenstein, a painting by Joaquín Torres-García, a Serge Poliakoff, and other works with an estimated value of $20 million to $30 million.^[1]

Ferreira died from a heart attack on 13 January 2024, at the age of 80.^[6]