Martin Schlaff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2008)

Martin Schlaff (born August 6, 1953) is an Austrian billionare entrepreneur.

Schlaff was born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish refugees from World War II.

Together with his brother James he took over the commercial firm Robert Placzek AG. Thereafter, he was predominantly active in trade with East Germany. He maintained good contacts with the German Democratic Republic and the communist party of Austria. After the German Reunification, there was an investigation that Shlaff illegally transferred technological know-how to the German Democratic Republic. In addition, he was suspected for money laundering. The investigation ended in 2000 without any charges.

In 1998, he (with a partnership company partly owned by Yasir Arafat) opened a casino in Jericho, Palestine. Named "The Oasis", it was meant for Israelis who could not gamble in Israel due to its illegality. It was closed, however, during the Second Intifada.

In 2002, Schlaff used his good contacts to Ariel Sharon to help normalize the Austrian Federal Government's relations with Israel. The Israeli Government had recalled the embassedor from Vienna, after the government participation of the FPÖ in 2000. A new Israeli Ambassador was sent to Austria in 2004.

In 2006, he was investigated by the Isreli police for bribing Ariel Sharon.

On March 27th, 2008, it was revealed that he could pay up to 200 Million Euros for his divorce, which would make it the most expensive in history.