Joseph Safra, Brazil’s richest man, has died

At 82, he died Joseph Safra, the richest man in Brazil, who created a international financial empire situated at New York and other financial capital, valued at $ 85 billion.

The president of Central Bank of BrazilRoberto Campos Neto said that Safra “undoubtedly leaves lessons for all who work in the national financial system and seek to improve it day by day. At the same time. He was a very generous philanthropist. The humanism of this gesture cannot be forgotten “.

Former was sacked by the presidents of the main banks in Brazil, Brazilian Association of Banks (ABBC) and the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), among others.

Low profile cultivator, Safra (including personal fortune is estimated at 23 billion dollars) was the fifth generation of a banker clan that began in Aleppo (Syria) then moved to Beirut (Lebanon), where Safra (1938) was born, the youngest in a family of 9 siblings, which included Edmond another prominent banker who was killed in Monaco in 1999 in a fire started by an employee. In 1953, Patriarch Jacob and Edmond moved in Brazil, and in 1967, they founded Safra Financiera. After a series of purchases, in 1972, Banco Safra was created, which eventually became the eighth largest private bank in Brazil.

Joseph took over the management of the bank after Edmond sold his stake to focus on his activities in Europe and the United States. In 2006, Joseph bought Moise’s share and set out to develop the family business. Currently, the Safra group includes Safra Bank, the National Safra Bank of New York and Sarasin, a Swiss private bank which he bought in 2011 for about $ 2,100 million and renamed J. Safra Sarasin.

But his empire was not based only on finances: Safra had 50% of the banana company Chiquita Brands International; and of 30 ST Mary Ax (popularly known as The Gherkin), the oval-shaped skyscraper designed by Norman Foster that has been transformed into one of the world’s most iconic buildings. horizon from London. A fan of the Corinthians, Safra lived in a Manor of 130 rooms located in Morumbí (San Pablo).

Although characterized by philanthropy, he donated several sculptures by the French artist Auguste Rodin, has been one of the main donors to Paulite Albert Einstein and Syrian Lebanese hospitals; helped build several synagogues and was an active member of the Brazilian Jewish community – and little fondness for cameras, in a 2009 scandal related to Bernie madoff (sentenced to 150 years in prison in the EE.UU. for the organization of a Ponzi scheme which achieved a turnover of 17.5 million dollars), placed it in the center of public attention.

Due to his deteriorating health, his sons Jacob, David and Alberto gradually assumed greater responsibilities in the family business. In 2019, Alberto decided to part ways with the lender to start his own company, ASA Investments. Now Jacob, the oldest, runs the international part of operations, while David oversees the Brazilian company.

The richest man in Brazil, the banker Joseph Safra, with a fortune valued at $ 23,000 million, died today at 82 in the town of San Pablo.

In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which in Brazil 6,730,000 infected and 179,000 dead, the Safra bank clarified that the banker died of natural causes.

According to Leaf, business man he knew that business success depended on trust in him, and was the symbol of the era of the great bankers.

In any case, Safra never boasted of being the richest in Brazil, perhaps because of his discretion and also because of his professional activity. the Lebanese businessman accumulated assets worth $ 23.3 billion over the course of his lifetime, according to the billionaires list of Forbes.

In fact, its discretion was put to the test in the global financial crisis that began in 2008: Bank Safra had $ 300 million in clients invested with American banker Bernard Madoff, who defaulted after his plan. pyramidal. an illegal financial company will collapse.

But The crisis did not affect the banker but he even doubled his personal assets compared to 2007, up to $ 16 billion.

In any case, the problem was the image of the institution, something key in the banking business, and fearing that it would be affected, at 70 then, Safra suspended the process of succession and resumed command. form the bank.

The Edmond Safra affair

Although his death shocked the Brazilian financial industry, until 1999 the most famous member of the Safra clan was his older brother. Edmond.

Edmond and his father, Jacob, were the first to travel to Brazil, where they created the Safra Bank. In time, Edmond will leave the family business to develop his own businesses in Europe and New York. In fact, shortly before Safra’s death, he sold his bank, Republic National Bank of New York, al HSBC for u $ s 10,300 millones, a record number for the time.

Edmon Safra in 1999 in his department of Monaco, in one fire which was discovered later had been provoked by Ted Maher, your nurse. The versions surrounding the event are multiple, at the beginning Maher had said that armed men wanted to steal them; then he gave up and revealed that he had started the fire in an attempt to put it out in time and stand before Safra’s eyes as a hero. The US press also reported that the former Green Beret had developed an addiction to gambling and that the motives for the murder could have been financial.

Another version suggests that through the Republic National Bank of New York, Safra would have collaborated with the FBI during the dismantling of a money laundering program which involved the russian mafia, and Safra’s death could have been revenge.

In any case, Maher was found guilty of this act and was released from prison in 2007.

Joseph, however, was traumatized by the situation and from that point on maximized his personal guard.