Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has issued a threat to seize Brazilian government assets unless property belonging to his companies X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX is returned. This escalation comes after a series of conflicts between Musk and the Brazilian government, including legal disputes over X’s operations and the freezing of SpaceX’s finances.
In a series of raids, the liquidators of diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg’s company have seized assets from his residence in Cape Town and offices in Gauteng. The raids follow Liebenberg’s recent launch of his political party, Herbou, and his candidacy as an independent in the upcoming elections. The legal representative for the liquidators stated that they were searching for assets funded by investors in Liebenberg’s company, Tariomix, which was liquidated earlier this year.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has seized R42.1 million in cash and an R18 million property from Berdine Odendaal, the alleged former romantic partner of late Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste. The assets were confiscated just before the expiration of a deadline to seize her assets. The funds and property will be deposited in the state’s National Revenue Fund. The forfeiture order states that the state will confiscate funds from five of Odendaal’s bank accounts and seize an R18 million property in her name at the exclusive Val de Vie estate outside Paarl. The central bank blocked Odendaal’s accounts in late April 2021 after finding she had received R60 million in loans from a company linked to Jooste. The bank suspected that Jooste and Steinhoff had violated exchange control provisions when they brought the funds into South Africa.
