88-year-old Brazilian multi-millionaire: “I was kidnapped by my own driver for years”

Brazilian multimillionaire Regina Gonçalves claims she was kidnapped by her own driver for a year. The 88-year-old is said to have been held in an apartment on the Copacabana. In total, the driver is said to have kept the multimillionaire under control for more than 10 years. Brazilian media report this.

88-year-old Regina Conçalves lives in a luxury apartment at one of the most famous addresses in Rio de Janeiro. The socialite inherited the company from her husband Nestor about 30 years ago when he passed away. Nestor Conçalves was a farmer and businessman and amassed a huge fortune over the years. The couple had no children, but they did have a lot of real estate, jewelry and a valuable art collection. Regina herself made her name as a hostess for the wealthy and organized numerous parties for the Brazilian elite.

But that all changed in 2022. The other residents of the famous Chopin building where the woman lived no longer saw her in the common parts of the building and her family also noted that they had not had contact with Conçalves himself for a long time. . All communication went through her driver José Marcos Chaves Ribeiro (53).

The socialite resurfaced last Sunday. In an interview on TV Globo the woman claimed that she lived ‘in captivity’ in her own apartment for a year and had no contact with anyone. Conçalves said that it was only on January 2 this year that she was able to leave the building alone and flee to her brother’s house. “I decided to run away to put an end to this,” she said.

Marriage contract

But her driver Ribeiro, with whom she lived for 14 years, claims the two were in a romantic relationship and was able to produce some kind of marriage contract. That was signed in 2021. With that document, the man was also able to provide two psychiatric reports which made it clear that both were ‘in full use of their mental faculties’ when they signed. But Conçalves says she doesn’t remember ever signing such a deed. Her family is also surprised by the news.

Ribeiro himself attributes this to a long-term illness that he believes the woman is suffering from. He claims that he has been seeing signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia in the woman for a long time.

Conçalves’ family is now taking care of the woman and says through a spokesperson that the woman has fallen victim to a scam. The problems between the Conçalves family and the driver have been going on for some time, the Brazilian newspaper writes Oh Globo. The socialite’s family previously filed a lawsuit against the man for psychological and domestic violence. This only came to light last week, when the socialite’s neighbors launched an appeal about the woman’s disappearance.

Contact ban

The driver was not arrested, but has since received a restraining order. Remarkably, he still has control over her assets. According to the family, all her jewelry has now disappeared. Her savings accounts were also said to have been looted and Ribeiro was said to have sold one of her houses.

The driver’s lawyer denies that Conçalves “escaped” and that the Chopin was used as a kind of prison for Regina Conçalves. The court is further investigating the case.