African leader paying the price for his lavish lifestyle

The vice-president of Equatorial Guinea has certainly earned his reputation for a love of all things luxe.

In 2014, Teodorin Nguema Obiang had to give up more than $30 million worth of assets — including a mansion in Malibu, California, and expensive vehicles — to settle with the U.S. Justice Department in a civil forfeiture case. Among his possessions was a collection of Michael Jackson paraphernalia, including one of the late singer’s gloves, studded with Swarovski crystals, that caught the at- tention of the Justice Department.

When that case closed, then-U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a statement that Obiang “shamelessly looted his government and shook down businesses in his country to support his lavish lifestyle, while many of his fellow citizens lived in extreme poverty.”

This week, Obiang again caught the attention of authorities — this time in Brazil. Local media outlets reported that when his delegation landed near Sao Paulo on Friday, about $16 million in cash and pricey watches were seized from it.

Brazilian laws prevent visitors from bringing more than $2,400 in cash into the country, Agence France-Presse reported. Obiang’s group was found to be carrying about $1.5 million cash and watches estimated to be worth $15 million.

Equatorial Guinea’s embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. But its embassy in Brazil released a statement accusing Brazilian authorities of wrongly searching the Obiang delegation’s belongings.

Obiang is used to raising eyebrows and suspicions over his belongings.

He is somewhat notorious for his play- boy lifestyle — and has only recently begun paying the price. In addition to his run-in with U.S. authorities, Obiang was tried in absentia in France last year and found guilty of embezzlement. The court found that he was using money he stole from Equatorial Guinea to fund a lavish lifestyle in Europe.

Obiang’s father, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has been in power since 1979, and under his rule, watchdog groups have ranked the small, central African nation one of the most corrupt in the world. Equatorial Guinea is an oil-rich nation, but its population is extremely poor.