Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1198602
09.01.2020 6 FEATURE How the wealthy before Carlos CRIMES WITHOUT PUNISHMENT Marc Rich Background: Born in Antwerp and raised in Philadel- phia and New York, Rich dropped out of NYU for a mail-room gig at trading firm Philipp Brothers in 1954. He left 19 years later in a huff over an unpaid $1.5 mil- lion bonus to start his own trading outfit, which, naturally enough, he named after himself: Marc Rich & Co. He appeared on the very first Forbes 400, in 1982, with a net worth estimated around $200 million. e Plot: After the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Rich developed a complex scheme that in- volved oil trades with the Ayatollah, vio- lating U.S. sanctions against Tehran. Life on the Run: Rich fled New York for Switzerland in 1983, the same year that a young, ris- ing-star prosecutor in New York named Rudy Giuliani hit him with more than 60 charges, including wire and mail fraud, income tax invasion, racketeering and breaking the embargo placed on Iran. Rich's eland wasn't dampened much. A year after arriving in Switzerland, he threw a celebratory bash at a new restau- rant he owned, according to a Fortune story that the FBI appended to its dossi- er on Rich, where local officials dined on oxtail soup and an all-female steel band performed. He was a fixture at St. Mor- tiz, the crystal-chandeliered ski resort, where "women [were]…reading Forbes, you know, looking for a husband," Rich's ex-wife Denise recalled. He continued to run his business— what's today Glencore—into the 90s, nearly cornering the Soviet market on oil, copper and nickel right up until the Iron Curtain fell. ose efforts paid off. Rich graduated to our World's Billionaires list in 1999 with a $1 billion net worth. Family Ties: It's been supposed that ex-wife Den- ise's Beltway connections as a political fundraiser paved the way for President Clinton to pardon Rich in 2001, an elev- enth-hour decision that set off a Congres- sional investigation. (It eventually found no criminal wrongdoing.) After Clinton wiped his slate clean, Rich attempted to further rehabilitate his image, giving away more than $100 million to Jewish causes and leukemia research before his death in 2013 at age 78. Thaksin Shinawatra Background: Working as a young police officer in the 1980s, aksin raised capital from friends and family—dad was a former member of parliament—to purchase IBM computers and lease them back to the department. (Before aksin stepped in, the deal had almost fallen apart with IBM wanting to be paid in dollars, not ai baht.) "Con- nections are important," aksin said a decade later, atop the 30-story head- quarters of his Shinawatra Computer & Communications, which by then also dealt in cell phones and pagers. His for- tune hit 10 digits in the mid 90s, and eager for even more influence, aksin became ai prime minister in 2001. He sold his Shin Corp. to a Singaporean firm in 2006 after amending a law to make it possible, prompting a mass public outcry that led to a military coup. e Plot: After being deposed and forced into exile, ailand's Supreme Court sen- tenced aksin in absentia to two years in prison for corruption for using his in- fluence to secure a below-market price for land his wife bought, acquitting him of two other charges that carried longer jail terms. Life on the Run: Since leaving his native land 17 years ago, aksin's wealth has rebounded with a $1.9 billion fortune built from real estate and proceeds from that notori- ous Shin Corp. sale. As recently as 2012, when he was living in Dubai, aksin was vowing to fight the charges against him "even on my dying bed." He appears to still be in that desert town; a few days ago, his daughter posted a Instagram picture of her and her father at Saltbae Burger in Dubai, an overflowing sundae before them. Family Ties: In 2011, aksin's sister Yingluck be- came prime minister. ("She doesn't need to call me, but when she does, I can give her the answers immediately," aksin said a year later. "Because I am sitting here doing nothing.") She wound up with a fate similar to her brother's—forced to leave office and engulfed in scandals, in- cluding one over a rice subsidy. She was sentenced in absentia to five years for negligence and now is also is living out exile in Dubai. Joseph Lau Background: After attending the University of Windsor in Canada, Lau returned home to join the family business, a ceiling-fan On the evening of 29 December, Carlos Ghosn, the wealthy ex-Nissan CEO, made a daring escape from court-monitored house arrest in Japan, reportedly stowing away in a case normally meant for audio equipment on a private plane that eventually took him to Beirut, Lebanon. Ghosn isn't a billionaire — he's worth more like $100 million — but his bolt for freedom is reminiscent of how these billionaires and former billionaires have broken bad, turned fugitive and mostly goen away with it