Arcadi Gaydamak

Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak (Hebrew: ארקדי אלכסנדרוביץ' גאידמק; Russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born French-Israeli businessman, philanthropist, and President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR). In the 1990s he was awarded the French Ordre national du Mérite[1][2] and the Ordre du Mérite agricole for actions taken to rescue personnel in the War in Bosnia. He holds Israeli, Canadian, French, and Russian nationalities, as well as a diplomatic passport from Angola. Gaydamak's net worth was valued between $700 million and $4 billion USD in 2007,[3] but following a series of lawsuits, failed investments, and the global economic crisis in 2008, his net worth declined significantly.

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Aleksandrovich and the family name is Gaydamak.
Arcadi Gaydamak
Born8 April 1952 (1952-04-08) (age 71)
Moscow, USSR
Occupationbusinessman
SpouseIrene Chirolenikova
ChildrenAlexander, Khadija and Sonia

Gaydamak invested in real estate in France and Israel, in Kazphosphate - the world's largest phosphate producer, in a gold mine and a metal processing plant in Kazakhstan, in the Russian weekly Moskovskiye Novosti, in food distribution in Russia and in oil fields and granaries in Angola. In Israel, his assets included the Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem, the Beitar Jerusalem football club, 15% of Africa Israel Holdings, and 99FM radio station. His significant and rapid investments in Israel made him a celebrity in Israel during the mid-2000s, with many mentions in the local media.[4]

Biography

Arcadi Gaydamak was born in Moscow, the capital of the USSR. At the age of 20, he was one of the first Jews to immigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union and receive Israeli citizenship. He lived on Kibbutz Beit HaShita, and studied Hebrew at an ulpan. He said he originally intended to serve in the Israeli Army, but ended up moving to France, where he opened a translation bureau.[5]

In 1982, Gaydamak Translations opened a branch in Canada. During that period he commenced international business, in import and export. After the collapse of the USSR, he built up ties in Russia and Kazakhstan, and formed various business organizations across Europe.

Gaydamak owns a home in Caesarea, Israel.[5] He is married to Irene Tzirolnicova, with whom he has three children. He speaks Russian, French, and English. He also speaks Portuguese and Hebrew on a basic level.

In December 2008, Gaydamak returned to Russia, settling in Moscow.[6] In February 2009, it was reported that he was seeking to regain his Russian citizenship, lost when he emigrated to Israel decades earlier.[7]

Political career
Main article: Social Justice (political party)
Arcadi Gaydamak during a press conference, February 2007

In February 2007, seeing the social issues in Israel, Gaydamak founded a party devoted to socio-economic issues, which he named Social Justice.[8] Although the organization was established as a social movement, he said it could become a political party if the circumstances warranted it. In late 2007, the party contemplated taking part in the 2008 municipal elections.[9]

Gaydamak ran for mayor of Jerusalem in November 2008, but his party won no seats on the city council. During the campaign, Gaydamak courted the East Jerusalem Palestinian vote. Gaydamak approached the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, Palestinian political figures and media, and came away with a near endorsement.[10]

Sport clubs and media ownership

In July 2005, Gaydamak became sponsor of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team. The following month he donated $400,000 to the Israeli Arab Bnei Sakhnin football club. On the same day, Gaydamak announced the purchase of 55% of the ownership of Beitar Jerusalem, and two days later he announced the acquisition of full ownership. Gaydamak is the patron of several Jewish charities and president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR), Russia's oldest Jewish umbrella group.

In January 2006, Portsmouth F.C. was sold to his son, Alexandre Gaydamak by Milan Mandarić. Gaydamak later sold the club to Ali al-Faraj in 2009. In the summer of 2008, Gaydamak said his son Alexandre was owner of Portsmouth F.C., and it was confirmed by the Premier League.[11]

In March 2006, he announced having bought the French newspaper France Soir via his company Moscow News.[12] He had purchased the Russian Moskovskie Novosti newspaper in 2004, fired some senior journalists, and changed the paper's mandate to a firmly pro-government one, appointing a pro-Putin journalist as editor-in-chief.

In June 2007, Gaydamak negotiated a deal to buy the non-kosher supermarket chain Tiv Taam. It was reported that he was planning to make the stores comply with Jewish religious practice: close them on Shabbat and halt the sale of pork products.[13] A few days later the deal fell through, resulting in a lawsuit.[14]

In July 2009, Gaydamak announced his decision to give up the ownership of Beitar Jerusalem in favor of Itzik Kornfein and Guma Aguiar. Kornfein would handle buying and selling players, while Aguair would engage in financing.[15]

Philanthropy
A Pashkevil appreciating Arcadi Gaydamak's contributions to Jerusalem, 2007

Gaydamak has donated to many Israeli organizations, including Magen David Adom and Hatzolah. He also pledged $50 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel, but withdrew the offer. He ended up donating $10 million.

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict Gaydamak constructed a tent-village on the Nitzanim beach, hosting thousands of families who fled the rocket-ridden North and had no place to go. Gaydamak's contributions totaled $15 million (about $500,000 a day). In November 2006, he funded a one-week-long vacation in Eilat for hundreds of Sderot residents who have experienced rocket attacks from Gaza.[16]

Controversy

Angola affair
Main article: Angolagate

In October 2009, Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone were convicted by a French court of organizing arms trafficking in Angola during the civil war in 1993-98 in the amount of 790 million dollars, in violation of the Lusaka Protocol. He was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. But his conviction on the arms dealing charges was overturned by the Court of Appeal in Paris on 29 April 2011. France attempted to extradite Gaydamak from Israel but Israeli law had changed in the interim.[17] Peter Storrie said that this situation helped precipitate the financial crisis at Portsmouth Football Club. The club was owned by Gaydamak's son Alexandre, and the charges against his father caused banks to withdraw overdraft privileges from the club, and to call the outstanding balances on its loans.[18] In November 2015, Gaydamak began a 3-year sentence in prison.[19]

Bank Hapoalim affair

In October 2009, Gaydamak was indicted in the Tel Aviv District Court on suspicions of money laundering through Bank Hapoalim, together with several managers of the bank and the Italian-Israeli businessman Nahum Galmor.[20] In a plea deal, charges for laundering money were dropped and Gaydamak received a one-year suspended sentence and fine.[21]

Awards and recognition

Gaydamak won two citations from the French government: Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite[1][2] and the Ordre du Mérite agricole for helping to rescue two captured French pilots in the War in Bosnia in the 1990s, as well as two French intelligence officers captured by rebel factions in the Caucasus. Because these operations were secret, the citations referred to his contribution to agriculture. Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua confirmed this, saying that President Jacques Chirac had personally authorized the citations.[1]

See also

References
  1. Yossi Melman (30 October 2009). "Gaydamak was once secret French agent, former minister says". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  2. "Ordre National du Merite Décret du 13 mai 1996 portant promotion et nomination" [National Order of Merit Decree of 13 May 1996 on the promotion and appointment] (in French). Legifrance. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  3. "Gayadamak said to be worth USD 1 billion". 21 March 2023. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  4. "Abramovich is latest of more than 30 Russian Jewish tycoons to move to Israel | The Times of Israel". The Times of Israel. 21 March 2023. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  5. Jeremy Post (9 December 2005). "Gaydamak: Billionaire mystery man". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  6. Lily Galili (21 December 2008). "Where will Arcadi Gaydamak make his new home?". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  7. "Gaydamak asks for Russian citizenship ahead of arms-dealing verdict". Haaretz. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original on 18 November 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  8. Lily Galili (21 February 2007). "Gaydamak announces formation of 'Social Justice' movement". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  9. "Billionaire Gaydamak says he'll run for mayor of Jerusalem". Haaretz. 30 April 2007. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  10. Lili Galili (26 October 2008). "East Jerusalem newspaper Al Quds backs Gaydamak for mayor". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  11. "Premier League statement". Premier League. 23 September 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  12. Pascale Santi (14 March 2006). "Arcadi Gaydamak annonce avoir racheté "France Soir"" [Arcadi Gaydamak announces having bought back France Soir]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  13. Sharon Wrobel (11 June 2007). "Tiv Taam, kosher? Gaydamak says yes". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  14. Tani Goldstein (18 June 2007). "Gaydamak, Tiv Ta'am deal falls through". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  15. Asayag, Ofira (20 July 2009). ארקדי גאידמק לאיציק קורנפיין: בית"ר שלך מתנה ממני [Arcadi Gaydamak to Itzik Kornfein: Your Betar a gift from me] (in Hebrew). one.co.il. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  16. "Sderot residents vie for trip to Eilat". The Jerusalem Post. 16 November 2006. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014.
  17. Yossi Melman (27 October 2009). הרשעת ארקדי גאידמק - הפעם הוא לא יחזור לישראל [Conviction of Arcadi Gaydamak - This Time He Will Not Return To Israel]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  18. "Storrie - Pompey deal close". Sky Sports. 21 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  19. Ma'anit, Chen (24 November 2015). "Arcadi Gaydamak begins prison term in France - Globes English". Globes. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
  20. Ofra Edelman (28 October 2009). "Gaydamack to post another $3.5m in bond for Hapoalim money laundering trial". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  21. Chen Ma'anit (14 February 2012). אושר הסדר הטיעון של גאידמק: יתרום 3 מיליון שקל למדינה [Gaydamak plea deal approved: will contribute 3 million shekel to the state]. Globes (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
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