security guards to keep outvisitors, Godoy says. Law enforcers and judges pushing to remove squatters fromnature preserves have little clout, says Fernando AmorimLavieri, a federal prosecutor who spent three years in theParaty area. Rich Brazilians can get away with almost anything,Lavieri says. Drag On The law is the same for the poor and the rich, but therich have the best lawyers, he says. Lawsuits against themdrag on in court for years. Brazils economy, fueled by a credit surge and boomingexports during the past decade, has boosted the value of assets,including real estate, stocks, bonds and commodities, therebycreating 19 new millionaires every day in a country of 190million people, according to the 2010 World Wealth Report byCapgemini SA (CAP) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Brazilians have a collective net worth of $890 billion, or39 percent of all individual assets in South America, accordingto a November 2011 report by Wealth-X, a Singapore-basedresearch firm. Squatters take advantage of loopholes in the laws, Lavierisays. Starting in 1983, the federal government enacted laws topreserve the regions of Paraty and nearby Angra dos Reis becauserare species at risk of extinction inhabit them. Local statutesallow some people to live there because indigenous fishingfamilies have been in now-preserved areas for generations. Follow the Rules Everyone who buys a right to a property in a conservationarea must follow strict limits on what they can build, iftheyre allowed to build at all. If they dont follow the rules, the government can revoketheir right to occupy the land and order them to demolishwhatever they built, says Jose Olimpio Augusto Morelli, anenvironmental analyst who heads the office of Ibama, Brazilsfederal environmental agency, in Angra dos Reis. Ibama ordered Resende to tear down the house he wasbuilding on Cavala Island. Forged Documents Federal prosecutors charged Resende, vice chairman and thelargest shareholder of Localiza Rent a Car SA, with fraud andenvironmental crime in November 2007. Resende had filed forgeddocuments in seeking permits to build his mansion on CavalaIsland, according to the criminal charges. In March 2008, federal police, Ibama and state governmentagents raided Cavala from two speedboats and found the hiddenparadise. In that raid, Morelli says, he saw two huge machinesthat Resende used to excavate more than 2,000 square meters ofearth to hide his mansion below the tree line. I saw a fireplace big enough to fit a car, and there werehuge piles of marble everywhere, waiting to be placed on thefloors and walls, Morelli says. Prosecutors sued Resende in a civil case in August 2008,saying he had violated environmental rules. Resende paid 4.8 million reais ($2.8 million) in November2005 to AC Lobato Engenharia SA, an engineering company based inAngra dos Reis that had previously owned the right to occupy theland, according to a federal police investigation. Resende has been appealing the civil and criminalaccusations. He said in a court-filed response that federaljudges shouldnt rule on the case because the Tamoiosconservation area was created by a state decree. SergioRosenthal, his lawyer, said in court that Resende doesnt knowanything about fraud or forged documents. Only Tropical Fjord On the other side of Paraty Bay, Icaro Fernandes,