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Revision as of 01:23, 5 December 2005
Marc Rich (born Marc David Reich on December 18, 1934) is a billionaire international commodities trader who fled the United States in 1983 to live in Switzerland in order to avoid prosecution on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. He received a controversial presidential pardon from President of the United States Bill Clinton in 2001, hours before Clinton left office.
Most recently, Marc Rich was linked to former United States Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby served as Rich's lawyer as far back as 1985 and charged him US$2 million for legal fees.
Life
Rich was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1934, and his family emigrated to the United States in 1942 to avoid the Nazis. Rich attended high school at the Rhodes School in Manhattan, New York and college at New York University. Rich worked as commodities trader for his wealthy father, who produced burlap sacks. He later worked with Philipp Brothers, a dealer in raw metals, learning about the international trading of raw materials with poor, third world nations. He later focused on trading with dictatorial regimes and embargoed nations, such as Iran. His company Marc Rich Real Estate GmbH is involved in large developer projects (e.g. in Prague, Czech Republic [1]).
Scandal
In 1983, Rich and partner Pincus Green were indicted by U.S. Attorney and future mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani, on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Both of them fled to Switzerland before a court appearance, and they remained on the FBI's Most Wanted List for many years.
On January 20, 2001, only hours before leaving office, President Bill Clinton granted Rich an extremely controversial presidential pardon. Since Rich's former wife and mother of his 3 children, socialite Denise Rich, had made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library during Bill Clinton's time in office, it was widely alleged that Rich's pardon had been bought. Clinton explained his decision by noting that similar situations were settled in civil, not criminal court, and cited the clemency pleas from Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Following his presidential pardon, he immediately began lucrative business dealings with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in connection with the UN oil-for-food scandals.
Marc Rich, after spending several years in the canton of Zug, moved his domicile to Meggen, a city part of the Swiss canton of Lucerne, where he zealously guards his privacy, but managed to be hunted down by a 60 Minutes TV crew once and he agreed to a one-time only interview. He resides in a property called "La villa rose" (the pink villa) on the shores of the Vierwaldstättersee (also known as Lake Lucerne). Rich also owns property in the ski resort of Saint Moritz, Switzerland and in Marbella, Spain.
His business partner, Pincus Green, is known to be the "logistics" brain of their company.
See also
External link
- "Marc Rich: Hero or villain?" - BBC News, Thursday, February 15, 2001