Marc Rich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marc Rich (born December 18, 1934 in Antwerp as Marcell David Reich ; † June 26, 2013 in Lucerne ) was a Spanish - Israeli international real estate and financial investor and one of the most successful and controversial commodity traders worldwide.

Life

Youth and Escape to the USA

Marc Rich's parents were German-speaking Jews . The mother Paula came from Saarbrücken , the father David originally from the shtetl of Przemyśl in Poland and later went to Frankfurt am Main . There, father David traded in everything from scrap metal to shoes. After the seizure of power of the Nazis , his parents fled from Frankfurt to Belgium , where Rich came as Marcell David Reich in December 1934, Antwerp to the world. The Reich family fled the Wehrmacht before the complete occupation of Belgium with a car to France and then from the Wehrmacht, which was occupying northern France, to Vichy France , which was unoccupied until November 11, 1942 . A year later, the family managed to escape at the last minute without money on a cargo ship from Marseille to Morocco . Eventually they came to the USA on the freighter Monviso . The family, who at the time could not speak English , lived in New York with relatives for the first time. She then moved first to Philadelphia , then on to Kansas City and finally back to New York in the borough of Queens , where many Jewish immigrants lived. In 1945, the Reichs received American citizenship and changed their name to Rich .

Before the family settled down, young Marc went to a different school almost every year in primary and secondary school. In Queens, Marc was often in his father's shop and worked there. The father traded in jewelry, auto parts and tobacco. With jute sacks, which the US Army urgently needed for sandbags during the Korean War (1950–1953) , he achieved a certain level of prosperity.

Marc Rich went to the private Rhodes School (High School) in Manhattan and studied marketing for two semesters at New York University from 1952 .

Professional background

He started as an apprentice in 1954 at the raw materials company Philip Brothers , the world's largest raw materials trader at the time and led by a group of German-Jewish emigrants led by Ludwig Jesselson. From 1964 to 1974 he worked as manager of the Philipp Brothers offices in Spain. At the beginning of the 1970s he created today's trading for crude oil ( spot market ).

In 1974, Rich and some of his companions, including Pincus Green, founded their own raw materials company, "Marc Rich + Co AG" with headquarters in Zug, Switzerland . Over the next few decades, this company became one of the best-known and most successful companies in the industry. In 1979 it was renamed "Marc Rich + Co Holding AG". In 1993, Rich sold the trading division of Marc Rich + Co Holding AG to the managers. This resulted in the company Glencore . In 1996 Marc Rich founded "Marc Rich + Co Investment AG", a small commodity trading group. In 1997 "Marc Rich + Co Holding AG" was converted into "Marc Rich + Co Holding GmbH", and negotiations were held in 2001 with "Crown Resources", which belongs to the Russian Alfa Group , about its shares in "Marc Rich + Co Investment" “Ran, but according to the company's website, it didn't go on sale. In 2003 the share capital of "Marc Rich + Co Investment AG" was reduced due to an under-balance sheet. Since July 1, 2011, it has been operating under the name "MRI Trading AG", and "Marc Rich Real Estate GmbH" also exists.

His time at Philipp Brothers gave Rich the opportunity to develop relationships with various dictatorial regimes and embargoed nations. Rich later told biographer Daniel Ammann that he had done his "most important and profitable" business by violating international trade embargoes and doing business with South Africa's apartheid regime . The customers he served included Fidel Castro's Cuba , Marxist Angola , the Nicaraguan Sandinista , Muammar Gaddafi's Libya , Nicolae Ceaușescu Romania and Augusto Pinochet's Chile . According to Ammann, Rich "had no regrets at all ..." He used to say, "I'm doing a service. People want to sell me oil and others want to buy oil from me. I'm a businessman, not a politician."

He kept it in power by helping to finance and promote the apartheid regime's trade in South Africa despite the international embargo (among other things, his companies supplied 15% of all oil freight between 1979 and 1993 and 50 tanker loads between February 1982 and November 1986). The oil shipments are estimated to be at least 400 million barrels , the profit for Rich's companies at two billion dollars. After the competitor Phibro-Salomon withdrew from the South African business in 1985 after the declaration of a state of emergency and Botha's Rubicon speech , Rich took over exports for the South African Black Mountain, one of the largest lead mines in the world.

For many years, Rich's companies were the most important crude oil supplier for Israel with a share of up to 60-90% of the demand (long-term average over 20%). The oil was procured in Iran - even while the USA had imposed an import ban and the EU foreign ministers had imposed sanctions because of the hostage-taking in the Tehran embassy (1979–1981) . Rich used his special relationship with Ayatollah Khomeini , the leader of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, to handle the said oil deals. The Iran should become the most important for more than 15 years of crude oil suppliers are rich. The sale to Israel took place through a secret pipeline . Also because of his good relations with Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini, Rich helped the Mossad agents to establish contacts in Iran.

His real estate company, Marc Rich Real Estate GmbH, has been involved in major development projects in Prague and the Czech Republic , among others . In 1981, Rich and Marvin Davis bought 20th Century Fox . His assets, including his stake in 20th Century Fox, were frozen while he was living in Switzerland on charges against Rich of violating US trade sanctions on his dealings with Iran. Davis was given permission by the authorities to buy Rich's holdings. He then sold it to Rupert Murdoch in March 1984 for $ 232 .

In May 2007 Marc Rich received an honorary doctorate from Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan . The second largest Israeli university justified the award with Marc Rich's decades of financial commitment to medical research to combat leukemia and the projects of his foundations for international understanding. As founder of the Rich Foundations, Rich received an award for social commitment (Sheba Humanitarian Award 2008).

He was married to songwriter Denise Eisenberg Rich from 1966 to 1996 and has three daughters with her ( Ilona Schachter-Rich (* 1967); Gabrielle Rich Aouad (1969-1996); Danielle Kilstock Rich (* 1975)). After separating from his first wife Denise, he married the widowed Gisela Rossi from Munich in 1996, from whom he divorced in 2005. She brought two sons into the marriage.

In 2012, his fortune was estimated by the Swiss business magazine Bilanz at 850 million Swiss francs (around 700 million euros ).

Rich last lived in Meggen (Lucerne). He died on June 26, 2013 after a stroke at the age of 78 in a Lucerne hospital. A day later he was buried near Tel Aviv in Israel.

Charge and pardon

Marc Rich and other traders were charged in 1983 with tax evasion, false statements, trading with Iran and controversial RICOs (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, Trading with the Enemy Act ) by Prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani , who later became Mayor of New York. Giuliani described Rich as "the greatest tax evader in US history". The charges would have resulted in more than 300 years in prison if Rich had been convicted on all counts. A trial never came about, however, because Marc Rich had already fled to Zug a few months before the indictment, where his company had been based since 1974, had renounced American nationality in September 1982 and was naturalized in Spain , where he was ten Had lived for years. He was also a citizen of Israel. Rich made a former Mossad agent his security advisor; he was an authorized signatory on the Board of Trustees of the Marc Rich Foundation. In 1985 the Swiss Federal Council described a file surrender order by the American authorities directed against his Swiss company as a prohibited economic intelligence service and contrary to international law. After the company had already delivered 200,000 documents to the USA, the files that were still in existence were confiscated by the federal police and the USA was referred to legal action. A planned kidnapping of Marc Rich in the USA in 1985 failed with the expulsion of two Americans. A Memorandum of Understanding requested by Switzerland , which obliged the USA to adhere to legal channels, only came about when Federal Councilor Elisabeth Kopp personally traveled to Washington. Rich's company eventually pleaded guilty to 35 tax evasion cases and fined $ 90 million. Rich was on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list for years . For fear of arrest, he did not even return to the United States to attend his daughter's funeral in 1996.

On January 20, 2001, Marc Rich received the most famous of the 140 pardons that President Clinton pronounced on his last day in office. Rich had previously expressed concerns about whether his business partner Green's pardon might negatively affect his own. Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak , among others , had personally campaigned for Rich. Ehud Olmert , another advocate, had received a generous donation for his mayoral campaign from Rich eight years earlier. With Clinton's pardon, the charges against Rich were overturned. Because Rich's ex-wife and mother of his three children made large donations to the Democratic Party during Clinton's tenure ($ 450,000 for the Clinton Library ), it has been widely claimed that the amnesty was bought. However, President Clinton stated that the decision was based on the facts and because similar charges were civilly tried. The FBI posted a 129-page report of the 2001 investigation on its website on November 1, 2016, which led to criticism for the timing of the publication shortly before the November 8 presidential election . The FBI stated that it was automatically released after the documents were requested three times, as required by law.

Paradise Papers

On November 5, 2017, the Paradise Papers revealed that Appleby had worked on large projects for Rich and Glencore in the past , even after he was indicted in 1983.

legacy

Glencore International AG was a company successor to "Marc Rich + Co AG". In late 1993, Rich lost control of the company when a failed attempt to depress the world zinc market resulted in some shareholders insisting that he give up his controlling stake. After a management buy-out , Marc Rich + Co was renamed Glencore. Ivan Glasenberg was appointed CEO in 2002. In 2013, Glencore merged with Xstrata to form Glencore Xstrata, based in Baar , Switzerland. Up until Glencore's IPO in 2011 and the Glencore / Xstrata merger in 2013, Glencore was operated as a private partnership.

Trafigura Beheer BV , based in the Netherlands, is another successor company, but it was never owned or directly managed by Rich. It was established in March 1993, with the name acquired from an existing company incorporated in Amsterdam . In addition to Claude Dauphine, your founding partners were the former top executives of Marc Rich. Today Trafigura AG is the main branch based in Geneva , Switzerland.

citizenship

Although Rich believed that he lost his US citizenship when he acquired Spanish citizenship, a 1991 appeals court ruled that Rich had remained a US citizen under US law and was therefore still subject to US income tax . He also held Belgian , Bolivian and Israeli passports.

As a philanthropist

Rich has been a strong supporter of Israel and has donated approximately $ 150 million over the course of his life to institutions such as the Israel Museum , Tel Aviv Museum of Art , research centers, theaters, and numerous other recipients in Israel. Rich donated several million US dollars to host Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia . He participated in Project Discovery, founded a museum wing for Israeli and international art on behalf of his late daughter Gabriela. He also contributed to the construction of the new Tel Aviv cinema building called "Marc Rich Israeli Cinema Center" and the construction of the main library at IDC Herzliya University, which bears his name. Rich also advocated coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians by setting up health and education programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip . He has also made contributions to the Center for Sloan-Catherine, Yale University Medical Research Center , Rabin Medical Center, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Center . Marc Rich created the Rich Foundation, one of the largest funds operating in Israel, managed by Avner Azulay. The fund has invested more than $ 135 million over the past two decades. The fund was established by Avner Azulay with the help of Rich's ex-wife Denise and his business partners Elka Acle and Pincus Green. The fund has made contributions to culture, education and various Israeli health programs over the years. Rich also helped build the bioengineering building at Bar Ilan University .

The Marc Rich Collection at the Kunsthaus Zürich

On the occasion of the 150th birthday of photography, Marc Rich gave the Kunsthaus Zürich its own photo collection in 1989 . These are mainly black and white historical prints that represent the development of classical artistic photography from the end of the 19th century. The collection forms the basis for the collection area of ​​classic, artistic photography of the important Zurich art house.

It ranges from the early pioneers ( William Henry Fox Talbot , Charles Marville ) to the pictorialism of the “Photo Secession” ( Alfred Stieglitz , Edward Steichen ) and “Straight Photography” ( Paul Strand , Edward Weston , Ansel Adams ) to surrealism , constructivism and Bauhaus ( Man Ray , László Moholy-Nagy ) and the poetic-documentary realism of the mid-20th century ( Henri Cartier-Bresson , Robert Frank ).

The Swiss Foundation for the Doron Prize

The Swiss Foundation for the Doron Prize was established in 1986 by the Marc Rich Group and annually honors above-average personal, unselfish and successful achievements in the fields of culture, the common good and science. Two winners are honored annually. In 2007, the Schweizerisches Jugendschriftenwerk (SJW) and the Hospital Clowns of the Theodora Foundation received the Doron Prize, each endowed with 50,000 Swiss francs.

To date, the Rich Foundations have supported around 4,000 non-profit projects worldwide with over USD 135 million.

Awards

In May 2007 Marc Rich received an honorary doctorate from Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan . The second largest Israeli university justified the award with Marc Rich's decades of financial commitment to medical research to combat leukemia and the projects of his foundations for international understanding . He received the same honor on November 18, 2007 from Ben Gurion University of the Negev , Beersheba , Israel. As founder of the Rich Foundations, Rich received an award for social commitment (Sheba Humanitarian Award 2008).

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Marc Rich  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From refugee child to “King of Oil” , Das Magazin , August 14, 2010.
  2. ^ Daniel Ammann : The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich . St. Martin's Press, New York 2009, ISBN 0-312-57074-0 .
  3. ^ A b Marc Rich: His last deal , balance sheet , February 28, 2002.
  4. ↑ SHAB: 125/2003 of July 3, 2003 (p. 19, Diary No. 5913 of June 27, 2003)
  5. ^ A b Marc Rich: controversial commodities trader and former fugitive dies aged 78. In: theguardian.com. June 26, 2013, accessed May 12, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Marc Rich, 'King of Oil' pardoned by Clinton, dies at 78. In: reuters.com. June 26, 2013, accessed May 12, 2020 .
  7. ↑ The darkroom  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Fire one 04/2001.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.brandeins.de  
  8. ↑ David Pallister, Kevin Maguire: Shadow minister accused of supplying apartheid regime , The Guardian online, May 4, 2001. (English)
  9. ^ Walter Niederberger: The USA could have had Marc Rich , Basler Zeitung Online, October 23, 2009.
  10. ↑ Daniel Ammann : Iran Sanctions: The Sobering Lessons of Marc Rich , abc news, March 22, 2010. (English)
  11. ↑ Banks Cut South Africa's Credit , in: ACOA Action News No. 20, 1985, p. 3 (PDF, English; 526 kB)
  12. ↑ Shawn Tully: Why Marc Rich is richer than ever , Fortune Magazine, August 1, 1988. (English)
  13. ↑ Michael Martin: Sanctions on Iran will fail , Christian Science Monitor, April 1, 2010. (English)
  14. ↑ Daniel Ammann : Iran Sanctions: The Sobering Lessons of Marc Rich , abc news, March 22, 2010. (English)
  15. ^ Marc Rich, the Man Who Sold Iranian Oil to Israel. In: Haaretz.com. June 27, 2013, accessed May 21, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Book on Marc Rich Details His Iran Oil Deals. In: nytimes.com. October 15, 2019, accessed May 21, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Marc Rich, king of commodities, died on June 26th, aged 78. In: economist.com. July 6, 2013, accessed May 21, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Rich to sell Fox stake to Davis. In: nytimes.com. June 20, 1984, Retrieved June 2, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Handelsblatt: These celebrities store their money in tax havens
  20. ^ Daniel Ammann: The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich , p. 215
  21. ↑ Marc Rich. June 26, 2013, accessed September 23, 2015 .
  22. ↑ The 300 richest 2012: Marc Rich. ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Bilanz , accessed on May 9, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tools.bilanz.ch
  23. ^ Commodity trader Marc Rich has died. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from June 26, 2013
  24. ↑ Marc Rich buried near Tel Aviv. In: cash.ch from June 27, 2013
  25. ^ Marc Rich, Financier and Famous Fugitive, Dies at 78. In: nytimes.com. June 26, 2013, accessed June 2, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Marc Rich. ( Memento of the original from December 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Infocube.ch, accessed on June 26, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / infocube.ch
  27. ↑ Glencore as Israel's Wild Card , Intelligence Online, November 26, 2009. (English)
  28. ↑ SHAB: 127/2009 of July 6, 2009 (p. 22) .
  29. ↑ VPB 51.5
  30. ↑ Elisabeth Kopp in Weltwoche No. 24, 2015 ( online, Paywall )
  31. ^ Marc Rich, Fugitive Commodities Trader in 1980s, Dies at 78. In: bloomberg.com. June 26, 2013, accessed June 2, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Plotting a pardon; Rich Cashed In a World of Chits to Win Pardon. In: nytimes.com. April 11, 2001, accessed June 2, 2020 .
  33. ↑ Alison Leigh Cowan: Financier's Partner Remained Loyal Lieutenant Throughout , nytimes.com , February 20, 2001. (English)
  34. ^ Neil A. Lewis: Clinton and Barak Discuss Rich Pardon in a Transcript , The New York Times, August 21, 2001. (English)
  35. ↑ William A.Orme Jr .: Marc Rich Aided Israeli Official , The New York Times, February 22, 2001. (English)
  36. ↑ Alison Leigh Cowan: Ex-Wife of Pardoned Financier Pledged Money to Clinton Library , The New York Times, February 9, 2001. (English)
  37. ^ William Jefferson Clinton: My Reasons for the Pardons , The New York Times, February 18, 2001. (English)
  38. ↑ William J. Clinton Foundation Part 01 of 01 (vault.fbi.gov, accessed November 2, 2016)
  39. ↑ "The bureau said that under law, documents requested three or more times are made public '' shortly after they are processed." ", Quoted in FBI release of Bill Clinton archive raises timing questions (www.bostonglobe.com, 2. November 2016)
  40. ↑ Revealed: Glencore's secret loan to secure DRC mining rights. In: theguardian.com. November 5, 2017, accessed June 5, 2020 .
  41. ↑ Marc Rich a 'Corporate Titan'. In: icij.org. November 5, 2017, accessed June 5, 2020 .
  42. ^ The rise of Glencore, the biggest company you've never heard of. In: theguardian.com. May 19, 2011, accessed June 5, 2020 .
  43. ^ Nowhere to hide. In: economist.com. September 10, 2015, accessed June 5, 2020 .
  44. ↑ Glencore $ 11 billion IPO to make billionaires of bosses. In: reuters.com. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  45. ↑ Glencore finishes takeover of Xstrata. In: ft.com. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  46. ↑ Our history. In: glencore.com. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  47. ↑ Claude Dauphin (1951-2015). In: trafigura.com. Retrieved June 16, 2020 .
  48. ↑ The Face of Scandal. In: vanityfair.com. August 14, 2008, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  49. ↑ How Foreign donor Reshaped Israel: A Who's Who. In: Haaretz.com. March 17, 2013, accessed June 23, 2020 .
  50. ^ The Marc Rich Library Annual Book Sale. In: idc.ac.il. November 19, 2018, accessed June 23, 2020 .
  51. ^ The Pardon of Marc Rich: How Hillary Clinton Served as the "Secret Weapon". In: counterpunch.org. October 3, 2016, accessed June 23, 2020 .
  52. ^ Jewish philanthropist Marc Rich, a Key Donor to Israel, Dies at 78. In: haaretz.com. June 26, 2013, accessed June 30, 2020 .
  53. ↑ Exhibitions 09.06.-20.08.1989 (with catalog ) and 20.06. – 10.08.2008 (with press release ( memento of the original from July 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original - and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kunsthaus.ch
  54. ↑ "Website of the Doron Foundation" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.marcrich.ch
  55. ↑ Website of the Doron Foundation ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.marcrich.ch
  56. ↑ Marc Rich, 'King of Oil' pardoned by Clinton, dies at 78. In: uk.reuters.com. June 26, 2013, accessed June 30, 2022 .
  57. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, October 3, 2010, p. 53
personal data
SURNAME Rich, Marc
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reich, Marcell David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish-Israeli commodities trader and financial investor
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Antwerp , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2013
Place of death Lucerne , Lucerne