-Caveat Lector-
Sunday, February 18, 2001
How Rich Got Off The Hook
BY BY AMANDA RIPLEY. REPORTED BY KAREN NICKEL ANHALT/MEGGEN,
TIME Magazine
Marc Rich trades nearly every plant, mineral and fuel that can be
taken from the earth and turned into profit. He does it on such
a grand scale that his trades actually affect how much Americans
pay for a slice of bread or a light bulb. "Some say he is the
greatest trader since Moses made a deal to part the Red Sea,"
says biographer A. Craig Copetas, a Wall Street Journal
reporter. When Clinton pardoned Rich last month, it was yet
another deal--a business problem that took 18 years for Rich to
solve.
Before the pardon, Rich appeared to have it all--a mansion in a
Swiss village, a global business and a helicopter to take him
skiing where no lift could reach. But if he left Switzerland,
Israel or Spain, he risked getting bounced to New York to face
criminal tax-evasion charges from 1983. Bounty hunters and U.S.
Marshals set traps for him, and Rich missed his father's
funeral--and later his daughter's when she died of leukemia in
1996. That's why, for the two decades after he fled the U.S.,
Rich has been trying to buy his way back to respectability by
stroking the interests of the Israelis, Swiss, Spaniards and
Americans, cultivating relationships like roses in his garden.
>From his outpost in the Swiss town of Zug, he wired contributions
around the world--to hospitals, opera houses and disaster-relief
organizations--and slowly, the fugitive was camouflaged by all
the pretty flowers. He donated an estimated $200 million to
institutions in Israel and the Jewish diaspora. In 1995,
according to a memo authored by one of Rich's lawyers and
obtained by TIME, he offered to aid the peace process by helping
finance a private investment bank with Jordan and the
Palestinians--with the caveat that he would need to move freely
throughout the region. Israel launched a "confidential
initiative" to get the U.S. off Rich's back, according to the
memo. Then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met with Dennis Ross,
Clinton's Middle East envoy, to plead Rich's case, but Ross was
unconvinced. Five years later, of course, Prime Minister Ehud
Barak vouched for Rich again--this time directly to Clinton, with
better results.
In Switzerland, meanwhile, Rich has contributed hundreds of
millions of dollars to the economy through taxes and donations.
"His donations are strategically focused," says Josef Lang, a
Swiss historian and government official in Zug. "He knows
exactly what segment of the population to attract: concerts and
museums for educated, high-income people, the hockey club for
'popular' appeal." All the while, Switzerland refused to hand
Rich over to the U.S. Says Hans Bachmann, the mayor of Meggen,
where Rich lives: "He has not demanded any special treatment from
local authorities, and we in turn do not talk about him."
Rich's empire has flourished because of his ability to operate
below radar. But the pardon he wished for has magnified his
every move, and the relationships he has nurtured have begun to
sour. "A lot of people are distancing themselves from Rich,"
says Lang. Swiss officials are investigating whether Rich's
company has complied with laws against money laundering. The
longest trade of Rich's career may turn out to be the most
foolish.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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