1. Edmond Jacob Safra was a Lebanese-Brazilian billionaire banker and philanthropist of Syrian descent.
22 Facts About Edmond Safra
1. 2.
Edmond Safra continued his family tradition of banking in Brazil and Switzerland, and was married to Lily Watkins from 1976 until his death.
3.
Edmond Safra died in a fire that attracted wide media interest, and was judicially determined to be due to arson.
4.
Edmond Jacob Safra was born on 6 August 1932, in Beirut, Lebanon, his family is of Sephardic Jewish background originally from Aleppo, Syria.
5.
When Edmond Safra was 16, he earned $40 million during arbitrage transactions between Italian and British gold sovereigns.
6.
Edmond Safra used this money to obtain a financial house in Geneva, which became his Trade Development Bank, and used only ancient Arabic script for its bookkeeping.
7.
Edmond Safra extended his financial empire to satisfy his wealthy clients from around the world.
8.
Edmond Safra founded the Republic National Bank of New York in 1966, and later, Republic National Bank of New York in Geneva.
9.
In 1996 Edmond Safra co-founded Hermitage Capital Management with Beny Steinmetz and Bill Browder.
10.
In 1998, Edmond Safra's bank alerted the FBI and the Swiss justice about a possible money laundering scheme involving IMF money, the Republic National Bank of New York and the Republic National Bank of New York, some other unidentified outlets, and Russian officials of both the Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian Central Bank.
11.
Edmond Safra's nurse Ted Maher was arrested under suspicion of starting the fire in order to gain attention "through a daring rescue", and then losing control unintentionally.
12.
Edmond Safra was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
13.
Edmond Safra helped to renovate and enlarge synagogues in Amsterdam, Istanbul, Naples, Budapest, Rhodes, and Vienna.
14.
Edmond Safra saved the oldest synagogue in France, in Clermont-Ferrand, from destruction by buying it for the community, and he contributed to the expansion of the Cannes synagogue and Synagogue Beth El in Paris.
15.
Edmond Safra helped refurbish synagogues in many small French cities including Evian, Annemasse, and others.
16.
Edmond Safra was one of the founders of Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, today one of South America's major medical centers.
17.
Edmond Safra created the Edmond and Lily Safra Chair in Breast Cancer Research at Tulane University.
18.
Edmond Safra believed higher education was essential for every young person in the modern world, even though he himself never attended university.
19.
Edmond Safra provided university scholarship funds for tens of thousands of needy students through the International Sephardic Education Foundation, an institution he and his wife established in 1977 to support deserving Israeli students.
20.
Edmond Safra helped universities directly, often through the support of chairs and particular programs.
21.
Edmond Safra took great pride in founding the Beit Yaacov school in Bat Yam.
22.
Edmond Safra was one of the world's most significant benefactors of yeshivot, assisting numerous institutions worldwide.