08 October 2014, News Wires – Fallen Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista will face a trial on 18 November on criminal charges that he misled investors about the viability of oil projects at his oil company OGX.
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The move comes after a court in Rio de Janeiro rejected the entrepreneur’s initial defence.
Folha de Sao Paulo reported that prosecutors found evidence of market manipulation and insider trading.
Batista is alleged to have unloaded OGX shares while in possession of privledged information between May and June of 2013 and again in late August and early September.
The trades are alleged to have made ill-gotten gains of $51.2 million, $52.2 million and $45 million respectively, according to Folha.
In July the company said four of its five flagship fields were non-commercial before filing for bankruptcy at the end of September.
Batista and other executives were also charged with white-collar crimes in a Sao Paulo court last month.
Batista, once the richest person in Brazil, recently said in an interview his net worth had plummeted to negative $1 billion.
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