Rene Rivkin was convicted of insider trading in 2003 and sentenced to nine months of periodic detention.
19 Facts About Rene Rivkin
1.
2.
Rene Walter Rivkin was born 6 June 1944 in Shanghai in what was then Japanese-occupied China, to Russian-Jewish parents.
3.
Rene Rivkin's father, Walter, was a Georgian-born trader who had fled to China in the 1920s to escape the Bolsheviks.
4.
The elder Rivkin had once been a champion boxer in Shanghai.
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Rene Rivkin attended the selective Sydney Boys High School in Moore Park.
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Rene Rivkin went on to become the youngest-ever member of the Sydney Stock Exchange.
7.
Rene Rivkin became famous in the Australian media for his entrepreneurial flair and wealth.
8.
Rene Rivkin was associated with leading political, media and business figures in Australia from 1982 to 1999 and became a household name.
9.
Rene Rivkin was appointed a member of the special committee to select works of art for the Bicentenary Darling Harbour redevelopment chaired by Neville Wran with the State Gallery director Edmund Capon, journalist Lenore Nicklin, critic and art collector Sandra McGrath, and Bob Pentecost, general manager of the Darling Harbour Authority.
10.
Rene Rivkin sold his share of stockbroking firm Rene Rivkin James Capel after an operation to remove a tumour, and amidst the 1987 stockmarket collapse.
11.
Rene Rivkin was the chairman and chief investor in the printing plant that was destroyed in the Offset Alpine fire on 24 December 1993.
12.
Rene Rivkin owned and part-owned many businesses, including a half share of John Singleton Advertising between 1986 and 1991 with his friend John Singleton.
13.
Rene Rivkin was convicted and sentenced to nine months' periodic detention on weekends.
14.
Rene Rivkin's sentence was delayed so he could undergo urgent surgery for a meningioma.
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Since 1986, Rene Rivkin had been receiving treatment for benign brain tumours, a gangrenous gall bladder, deep vein thrombosis and bipolar disorder.
16.
Rene Rivkin later moved from his Point Piper home to the Darling Point home of his elderly mother, where he killed himself on 1 May 2005.
17.
Rene Rivkin's funeral was held at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park where his body was cremated on 6 May 2005.
18.
Rene Rivkin was survived by his wife and five children.
19.
The high-profile investigation revealed Rene Rivkin had been trading in secret through complex offshore dealings, despite being banned, and led to the Australian Taxation Office claiming A$18 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.