Sean Goldman 9, arrives at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hugging his Brazilian stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva.
/ AP photo
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A U.S. congressman says a New Jersey man and his 9-year-old son have left Brazil at the end of a five-year international custody battle.
Rep. Chris Smith says David Goldman and the boy, Sean, are on their way to the United States on a charter plane.
They left Rio de Janeiro about three hours after the boy's Brazilian relatives handed him over at the U.S. consulate on Thursday.
Wearing a shirt with the Brazilian flag, Sean cried earlier as he was led through a scrum of journalists in front of the consulate.
After five years of court rulings and appeals, Brazil's Supreme Court chief ordered Sean returned to Goldman this week.
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