Edmond Safra
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Edmond Jacob Safra (Arabic: ادموند يعقوب صفرا) (August 6, 1932, Beirut, Lebanon – December 3, 1999, Monaco) was a Brazilian-naturalized, Jewish Lebanese banker who continued the family tradition of banking, in Lebanon, Brazil and Switzerland.
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[edit] Life of Edmond Safra
The Safra family in Beirut was engaged in the financing of trade between Aleppo, Constantinople and Alexandria. His father, Jacob Safra, had opened the Jacob E. Safra Bank in 1920. By the time he was sixteen, Edmond Safra was working at his father's bank and was engaged in the precious metals and foreign exchange aspects of the business.
In 1949, the Safra family moved to Italy, fleeing the anti-Jewish riots in Beirut brought about by the emergence of the State of Israel in 1948. Edmond Safra worked for a trading company in Milan. The family moved once again in 1952, this time to Brazil, where Edmond Safra and his father Jacob founded the first Brazilian financial institution in 1955. With over 100 branches in Brazil, today the Safra's family are very active through the Safra Group of Financial Institutions holding of Banco Safra S.A. Safra National Bank of New York, Banque Safra Luxembourg, Banque Jacob Safra Suisse.
In 1956, Edmond Safra settled in Geneva to set up a private bank, the Trade Development Bank, which grew from an original $1 million to $5 billion during the 1980s. He found the business climate to be favorable and extended his financial empire, making it a point of honor to satisfy his wealthy clients from Monte Carlo to Miami. Safra also founded the Republic National Bank of New York in 1966. He later opened Republic National Bank of New York (Suisse) in Geneva, and in 1988 formed Safra Republic Holdings S.A. Republic bank operated 80 branches in the New York area, making it the number three branch network in the metropolitan region behind Citigroup and Chase Manhattan. In 1988, he also founded Safra Republic Holdings S.A., a firm specializing in wealth management.
Edmond Safra became famous in 1983 through the sale of the Trade Development Bank to American Express for more than $450 million, a transaction that turned into a legal battle between the two parties. The financier came out on top, winning damages from American Express.
By the early 1990s, Edmond Safra's fortune was an estimated at $2.5 billion. He was a major philantropist for various charities and Sephardic Jewish communities worldwide. As he approached his 60s, the financier shared his time between his home in Geneva, New York and his villas on the French Riviera. Weakened by Parkinson's disease, Safra required nursing care. In December 1999, Edmond Safra was killed by a criminal fire. Ted Maher, the U.S.-born nurse was arrested under suspicion of starting the fire, and was convicted of the crime in 2002 by Monaco Court. He claimed that he started the fire to carry out a daring rescue, and thus increase his standing in the Safra family's eyes but he allegedly lost control of the fire unintentionally. This version of the murder is disputed by many who believe the plot to be extremely convenient. The murder facts have been scrutinized by several media "mystery solvers" such as 60 Minutes, CBS 48 Hours, or Dominick Dunne in Vanity Fair.
[edit] References
- Bryan Burrough, Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra, New York: HarperCollins, 1992. ISBN 0-06-016759-9.
