Esteves's Attorneys Say Billionaire Was Jailed for Being Rich

Andre Esteves’s attorneys requested his release from a Rio de Janeiro jail and said the billionaire was only arrested in a corruption case because he’s one of the wealthiest people in Brazil.

“It’s often said -- and it’s true -- that the Brazilian penal system is socially selective, biased against the poorest,” lawyers for Esteves, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Grupo BTG Pactual SA, said in court documents filed this month with Brazil’s supreme court. “But sometimes it’s the reverse. It’s what’s happening in the case of this defendant, who’s in jail because he is rich.”