PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  When Jean-Claude Duvalier suddenly emerged from exile last weekend, saying he was here “to help” his devastated homeland, fears immediately spread across the country that the former dictator had come to stake a new claim to power.

But Mr. Duvalier’s risky return home from France may have been driven by another motivation: money.

Though Mr. Duvalier has long been accused of looting $300 million from Haiti before fleeing nearly 25 years ago, his lawyers and friends have said that much of his money was squandered on a lavish lifestyle of jewelry, chateaus, fancy cars and a very expensive divorce from his ex-wife.

Just this week, one of Mr. Duvalier’s lawyers said that when his client was hauled before a Haitian court and asked how he supported himself, Mr. Duvalier responded: “With the help of friends.”

But about $6 million still sits frozen in an account in Switzerland, and Mr. Duvalier has publicly vowed to make every effort to get it. Haitian officials, human rights advocates and political analysts believe that Mr. Duvalier came back to the country last weekend for the sole purpose of making an end run around a new law that will make it harder for him to do that.