Difference between revisions of "Marc Rich"

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==Connections==
 
==Connections==
 
*[[Denise Eisenberg]] - First wife.
 
*[[Denise Eisenberg]] - First wife.
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*[[Ilona Rich Schachter]] - daughter
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*[[Ilona Rich Schachter]] - daughter.
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*
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*[[Gabrielle Rich Aouad]] - daughter.
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*[[Daniella Rich Kilstock]] - daughter.
 
*[[Libby Green|Libby]] and [[Pincus Green]]
 
*[[Libby Green|Libby]] and [[Pincus Green]]
 
*[[Val Hackel|Val]] and [[Alec Hackel]]
 
*[[Val Hackel|Val]] and [[Alec Hackel]]
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*[[Michael Steinhardt]]
 
*[[Avner Azulay]]
 
*[[Avner Azulay]]
 
*[[Jack Quinn]] - lawyer.
 
*[[Jack Quinn]] - lawyer.

Revision as of 23:34, 2 September 2013

Marc Rich (1934-2013) was a leading global commodities trader.[1]

Early life

Rich was born Marcell David Reich in Antwerp, Belgium, on December 18 1934.[1] He was the only son of David Rich and Paula Rich-Wang.[2]

His father, David, was a door-to-door salesman.[1] Seeking to escape religious persecution during the Second World War, the family initially settled in Vichy France before moving to the United States in 1941. They lived with a relative in New York, before moving successively to Kansas City, Philadelphia and back to New York.[2]

Education

Rich was educated at Rhodes preparatory school in Manhattan. He entered New York University in the autumn of 1952, but dropped out to take a job with Philipp Bros.[1][2]

Phillip Brothers

At the time Rich joined in 1954, Philipp Brothers was the leading trader of industrial metals. he started out as a 'lehrling' in the mailroom, before moving to the shipping department which handled physical transfers of commodities.[2][1]

As a junior trader, he first came to prominence by buying up mercury to sell to vehicle battery makers supplying the US Army in the wake of the Korean War.[3]

By the late 1960s he was running Phillip Bros' Madrid office.[1]

Rich's career took him to Phillip Brothers offices in Bolivia, the Netherlands, India, Spain and Switzerland. From 1964 to 1974, he managed the company's office in Madrid.[2]

In the early 1970s, Rich pioneered the 'spot' market for oil. Contacts with the Iranian royal family enabled him to profit from the first oil shock in 1973.[1]

The following year, Rich left Philippe Bros over its conservative approach to trading and refusal to pay him what he thought he was worth.[1]

Marc Rich & Co

In April 1974, Rich and his partners, Pincus Green and Alec Hackel, started their own trading firm, Marc Rich & Co AG (MRAG).[2] The company was based in Zug, Switzerland.[1] Additional offices were initially located in London and Madrid.[2]

Following the creation of March Rich & Co, Rich initially lived in London where his third daughter, Danielle, was born in March 1975. A subsidiary of the Swiss company was operating in New York from 1978.[2]

Marc Rich & Co did business with a number of controversial regimes, including Apartheid South Africa, Rumania and Chile.[1]

Iran

Rich continued to trade with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.[1] Former CIA officer Vince Cannistraro has claimed that Rich was used a conduit for Israeli-Iranian contacts by Mossad.[4]

South Africa

Rich made profits of around $2 billion selling oil to Apartheid South Africa in violation of a UN embargo between 1979 and 1994.[5]

US oil trading scheme

In 1980-81, Rich allegedly made $100 million by re-labelling oil from old fields as newly developed, gaining a premium from regulations then in place.[6]

Indictment

Rich moved to Switzerland in 1983.[2] In the same year, he was indicted by US Federal Prosecutor Rudy Guiliani, accused of evading taxes worth $48 million and trading illegally. He refused to return to the United States and was placed on the Justice Department's 'most wanted' list.[1]

Re-organisation

In 1987, Marc Rich & Co was organised as Marc Rich & Co Holding AG, while the commodity trading business continued to operate as Marc Rich & Co AG.[7]

Glencore sale

In 1993, Rich sold his interest in the commodities trading section of the Marc Rich Group, Marc Rich + Co AG to its managers. The company, renamed Glencore International, held a 53 per cent interest in Südelektra Holding AG, which later became Xstrata.[2][8]

In 1996, Rich returned to the commodities industry with a new, smaller, trading group. This in turn was sold to its management in 2003.[9]

In 1997, the Marc Rich + Co Holding AG was reorganised as a GmbH.[10]

Twentieth Century Fox

In 1981, Rich bought a stake in Twentieth Century Fox which he later sold to Rupert Murdoch.[1]

Personal life

In 1966, Rich married shoe-manufacturing heiress Denise Eisenberg.[1] Their first child Ilona was born in August 1967. Their second child Gabrielle was born in January 1969.[2]

Rich began a relationship with German-born widow Gisela Rossi in 1989.[1]

Rich reached a reported $200 million divorce settlement with his first wife Denise in 1996.[1] In September 1996, their second daughter, Gabrielle died, after having suffered from Hodgkin's disease and then leukemia since the age of 23.[2]

Rich married Gisela Rossi in 1998. They divorced in 2005.[6]

Support for Israel

In the mid-1980s, Rich established a special $400,000 fund that was used by Egypt to compensate the families of Israeli tourists killed by an Egyptian policeman in the Sinai. He was also reported to have been instrumental in assisting the searching for Israeli service personnel missing in action, and in the evacuation of Jews to Israel.[4]

Pardon campaign

In 1995, US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross and Ambassador to Israel Martin S. Indyk, rebuffed senior Israeli officials, including then foreign minister, Shimon Peres, who asked that Rich be allowed greater freedom of movement around the world in order to support the economic development of the Occupied Territories in the framework of a peace agreement.[4]

In 2000, Rich hired Washington lawyers to negotiate a settlement with the US Government, and they in turn approached his ex-wife, Denise, a Democratic donor. At a fundraiser in November 2000, she presented President Bill Clinton with a golden saxophone. she reportedly asked for a pardon at the subsequent White House farewell dinner.[1]

Clinton issued a pardon hours before leaving office in January 2001. He later said that the outstanding allegations had been civil rather than criminal matters, and that he had received please in Rich's support from the Israeli Government.[1]

IDC Herzliya

Rich became an Honorary Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2008.[2]

Affiliations

The Rich Foundations

Connections

External resources

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Marc Rich, Telegraph, 26 June 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 A short biography, www.marcrich.ch, accessed 2 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Marc Rich, The Economist, 6 July 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 James Risen with Alison Leigh Cowan, U.S. Diplomats Turned Aside Israeli Push on Rich's Behalf, New York Times, 17 February 2011.
  5. ↑ Marc Rich, The Economist, 6 July 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Douglas Martin, Marc Rich, Financier and Famous Fugitive, Dies at 78, New York Times, 27 June 2013.
  7. ↑ The Marc Rich Group: History and Company Profile, www.marcrich.ch, accessed 2 September 2013.
  8. ↑ The Marc Rich Group: History and Company Profile, www.marcrich.ch, accessed 2 September 2013.
  9. ↑ The Marc Rich Group: History and Company Profile, www.marcrich.ch, accessed 2 September 2013.
  10. ↑ The Marc Rich Group: History and Company Profile, www.marcrich.ch, accessed 2 September 2013.
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