88-year-old billionaire socialite accuses former driver of keeping her trapped in apartment in Rio

The neighbors of socialite Regina Gonçalves, 88 years old, in Edifício Chopin, a luxurious address on Avenida Atlântica, in Copacabana, in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro, were surprised by the lack of news from her since December. According to her family, she had been kept in false imprisonment by her former private driver, José Marcos Chaves Ribeiro, aged 53, with whom she had a stable union. In January, she reportedly managed to escape to a brother’s house. To the court, Ribeiro claimed that the two had a romantic relationship and presented a deed of stable union registered in 2021. At the time, Marcos was 50 years old; Regina was 85. According to the document, both were in full use of their mental faculties. Two psychiatric certificates were presented to prove her health. The deed states that their statement was recorded on video. She says she doesn’t remember signing any paper. The news of a romance caused strangeness in the family.

Regina lived with José Marcos Ribeiro for 14 years. She states that on January 2nd of this year, she managed to leave alone and went to the house of her only living brother, who also lives in Copacabana. According to the socialite, leaving was an escape. “I decided to run away to put an end to this,” she declared. The court granted Regina the protective measure, and José Marcos has to stay at least 250 meters away from the socialite. The husband told the court that Regina only left the house because she had “an outburst resulting from her fragile state and mental confusion”. Even with the protective measure, he obtained in court the right to be her curator, with powers to manage the socialite’s assets. Today there are two court decisions. In the criminal area, José Marcos is prohibited from approaching the socialite. In the civil area, he is responsible for managing Regina’s assets. Regina is the widow of the owner of Copag decks, Nestor Gonçalves, and has no children. Nestor, in turn, left as an inheritance the apartment in the Chopin Building and other properties, including a farm in Angra dos Reis, also in Rio. In 1994, the inheritance was R$2.5 billion.