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THE BOLD AND THE DARING

BUSINESS

No. 5 - Alfie Best II

A tenacious Romany Gypsy turned multi-millionaire businessman, Mayfair and Hertfordshire based Alfie Best overcame “many obstacles and prejudices” to make his fortune in cars,...
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BUSINESS

No. 6 - Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani (AKA ‘Lightning Lee’ and ‘The Stopwatch’)

The “mastermind of Britain’s biggest cash robbery”, “from the streets kid” and “scary son of a b**ch” Lee Murray was born in Greenwich and...
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BUSINESS

No. 7 - Chrissie Rucker MBE

In 1994, with £6,000 in savings, Chrissie Rucker ended her career as a beauty journalist to launch The White Company from her boyfriend’s spare...
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BUSINESS

No. 8 - Alison Platt

A “trolley dolly” turned CEO of Britain’s biggest estate agency, Alison Platt sees no difference between selling bleach and houses. Appointed a non-executive director...
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BUSINESS

No. 9 - The Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE (better known as Karren Brady, AKA “The First Lady of Football”)

Ambitious and hardworking to her core, North London born Karren Brady likes to describe herself as a “working mum”. Having become the youngest-ever managing...
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BUSINESS

No. 10 - The Rt. Hon. The Lord Alliance CBE (Born: Davoud Alliance, Persian: داوود آلیانس, Hebrew: דייוויד אליאנס)

Iranian-British businessman Lord Alliance courageously used his powerful contacts to help save the ‘Forgotten Jews’ of Ethiopia in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in...
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BUSINESS

No. 11 - Christina Ketley

Though never married to the murdered gangland figure and timeshare fraudster John Palmer, Brentwood born Christina Ketley was truly the power behind his nasty...
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BUSINESS

No. 12 - Pete Halat

Former attorney and Mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi from 1989 to 1993, Pete Halat was acquitted of but still is often connected to the 1987...
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BUSINESS

No. 13 - David Sullivan

Cardiff born David Sullivan owned the Daily Sport and the Sunday Sport between 1986 and 2007. Essex based and a father of two, Sullivan...
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BUSINESS

No. 14 - Radovan Vitek

A self-made Czech real estate billionaire, Radovan Vitek was listed as having a worth of £1.1 billion by Forbes in 2015. The owner of...
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BUSINESS

No. 15 - Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. (AKA “Buddy Fletcher”)

The fund founded by “The Black Madoff” was bankrupted in 2012 after Alphonse Fletcher, Jr.’s firms, Fletcher Asset Management and Fletcher International, failed to...
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BUSINESS

No. 16 - Martin Taylor

Despite Ed Miliband condemning the Conservatives as “the party of Mayfair hedge funds”, Labour happily and hypocritically accepted £591,800 from Mayfair hedge fund boss...
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BUSINESS

No. 17 - Eike Batista

This one time billionaire subsequently became one of the world’s fastest destroyers of wealth after being listed as being worth -$1.2 billion by CNBC...
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BUSINESS

No. 18 - Alexandra Lebenthal (AKA “The New Queen of Wall Street”)

In her 2010 novel, The Recessionistas, this esteemed Jewish mother of three chronicled the consequences of economic collapse for a wealthy New York investment...
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BUSINESS

No. 19 - Sam Cook

Aged just 17, Yorkshire born Sam Cook borrowed £2,000 from his father and allegedly turned it into £21.2 million in less than 12 months....
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BUSINESS

No. 20 - Dame Shirley Porter DBE (née Shirley Cohen)

Tesco heiress Dame Shirley Porter joined Twitter in August 2014 and describes herself there as “an English philanthropist and former UK politician residing in...
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BUSINESS

No. 21 - Oliver Trusgnach

A Belgian fantasist, Oliver Trusgnach falsely accused a former Belgian prime minister of abuse before becoming an £18,500 per year antiques gallery manager in...
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BUSINESS

No. 22 - Raj Von Badlo (also known as Raj Shastri and Raj Paull)

On his website, Bentley driving Raj Shastri states: “My father told me that if you want to do something, find the best person in...
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BUSINESS

No. 23 - Aby Rosen

This Jewish real-estate mogul and contemporary art patron co-founded RFR Holding LLC with his childhood friend Michael Fuchs in 1991. Frankfurt born and Manhattan based, Aby...
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BUSINESS

No. 24 - Nathan Goralnik (AKA “Nate Goralnik”)

Brown and Yale educated Nathan Goralnik joined Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP’s New York office in 2012 and specialises in financial litigation and...
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BUSINESS

No. 25 - Karen Blackett OBE

The chief executive officer of Mediacom stated: “I still think it is odd that I’m the only senior black woman in the advertising industry”...
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BUSINESS

No. 26 - Lady de Rothschild (also known as Lynn Forester de Rothschild, née Lynn Forester)

This thrice married, New Jersey born, Columbia Law School graduate was introduced to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild by Henry Kissinger in 1998. The couple...
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BUSINESS

No. 27 - Ryan Serhant

Born in Texas and educated at Hamilton College, New York, Ryan Serhant began his career as an actor on the long running series As...
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BUSINESS

No. 28 - Felix Dennis (1947 – 2014)

This maverick publishing legend and poet founded Dennis Publishing in 1974 and was the first person to say the word “cunt” on live British...
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BUSINESS

No. 29 - Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (AKA “The Winklevii”)

Born in The Hamptons, the 6’5” tall Winklevoss twins have achieved success in both rowing and online ventures. Their long-running legal wranglings with Mark...
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BUSINESS

No. 30 - Archibald Hall (AKA Archibald Thomson-Hall, Roy Fontaine, the Killer Butler and the Monster Butler, 1924 – 2002)

A bisexual conman, thief and serial killer who targeted the aristocracy. Hall was born in Glasgow and took elocution lessons during his first of...
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BUSINESS

No. 31 - Paul Reichmann (1930 – 2013)

This Vienna born Canadian businessman built and lost a fortune on Canary Wharf and was renowned for his frugality and as a “man of...
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BUSINESS

No. 32 - Yan Assoun

The term “bonfire of the bankers” truly applies to the life of this divorced Frenchman who has variously been based in London and New...
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BUSINESS

No. 33 - Catherine Hooper

The founder of Black Umbrella moved in with Andrew Madoff three days before the black storm of his father’s Ponzi scheme broke. Hooper, a...
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BUSINESS

No. 34 - Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun

If being vice president of product development at Tiffany’s isn’t enough, why not help yourself to a little bit more to be sure? That’s...
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BUSINESS

No. 35 - Nicholas van Hoogstraten (also known as Adolph von Hessen and born Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten)

This controversial tycoon is allegedly worth £500 million and believes Robert Mugabe to be “one hundred percent decent and incorruptible”. Nicknamed “The Maniac in...
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BUSINESS

No. 36 - Jesse Livermore (1877 – 1940)

One of the greatest traders ever to have lived. This thrice married American was famed for making and losing several multi-million dollar fortunes and...
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BUSINESS

No. 37 - Michelle Mone OBE

When her husband left her, she could of ‘moaned’ but instead she got on with it and paid her now ex-husband some £24 million...
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BUSINESS

No. 38 - Hillel Nahmad (AKA “Helly Nahmad”)

A scion of a prominent art dealing dynasty, Hillel Nahmad (or “Helly” as he’s known to his friends), is the proprietor of the Helly...
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BUSINESS

No. 39 - Andreas Panayiotou

A self-made mogul and former champion boxer who cannot read or write fluently. He thinks “differently” and built a £400 million fortune by creating...
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BUSINESS

No. 40 - Peter Scott (born Peter Craig Gulston, 1931 – 2013)

A modern day Robin Hood who claimed to have been “sent by God to take back some of the wealth that the outrageously rich...
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BUSINESS

No. 41 - Hilary Devey

This Lancastrian tycoon transformed the Dragons’ Den with her 80s style shoulder pads and comments such as “he made my foot itch”. Thrice married...
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BUSINESS

No. 42 - Marcus Cooper

A property developer extraordinaire with a “passion for deals”. He has been involved in deals involving many of London’s most expensive properties and founded...
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BUSINESS

No. 43 - Ronald Edwards (1931 – 1994), better known as Buster Edwards

Variously a boxer, nightclub owner, florist and criminal. Edwards became famous as one of the 1963 Great Train Robbery gang. He fled to Mexico...
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BUSINESS

No. 44 - Giovanni Di Stefano

Jailed for 14 years in March 2013 on charges of deception, fraud and money laundering, Di Stefano is a man who is often referred...
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BUSINESS

No. 45 - David Elias

Some say he died in 2009, others, including the Serious Fraud Office, suspect he’s hiding out in the rainforests of Borneo. This bankrupted businessman...
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BUSINESS

No. 46 - Eric Hersman

The Sunday Times describe him as a “secretive US financier” but Hersman, who is a sometime resident of London’s Bulgari Hotel is also said...
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BUSINESS

No. 47 - Robert Bourne and Sally Greene OBE

Well-known for their numberplates “2 BE” and “NOT 2B,” this power couple live on Cheyne Walk and are a little bit like Marmite. In...
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THE BOLD AND THE DARING

No. 48 - Leslie "Les" Allen-Vercoe (also known as Les Vercoe)

This property developer tried to sell Britain’s ugliest crib, Updown Court at Windlesham in Surrey, for £70 million in 2008. It languished on the...
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BUSINESS

No. 49 - Raffaele Mincione

He was once engaged to Heather Mills but had a very lucky escape when she chose to marry Sir Paul McCartney instead. This Italian...
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BUSINESS

No. 50 - Captain Simon Mann

This former army officer boldly led a coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea in 2004. He was imprisoned for 34 years but received a presidential...
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THE BOLD AND THE DARING

No. 51 - Jack O'Shea

A gentleman butcher. He’s deservedly been named Butcher of the Year by The Independent and his shops in Brussels and Knightsbridge are a mecca...
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BUSINESS

No. 52 - James Murdoch

Considered by many as the pretender to the fortune of his father, Rupert, the phone hacking scandal may have put paid to that. He...
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      The Roll Call - THE BOLD AND THE DARING

      < Categories
      Penny Streeter OBE (née Penny Stiff) – From homeless to multi-millionairess – A classic ‘rags to riches’ tale is that of Penny Streeter. After being made homeless, she founded a recruitment firm and is now worth some £208 million through her A24 Group.

      1

      Penny Streeter OBE (née Penny Stiff)
      Dr Bernard Ecclestone (AKA Bernie Ecclestone, ‘The Grinch’ and ‘Bungling Bernie’) – This common as muck, stingy, diminutive dwarf once suggested Hitler was “able to get things done” and outrageously suggested the leader of the Black Shirts’ son, Max Moseley, “would do a super job” as Prime Minister. Notoriously tight, a former garage mechanic and once forced to pay £10 million in connection with tax avoidance, Bernie Ecclestone has been subject to an expose by Tom Bower. He has only one real friend, a creepy fellow with halitosis, and an alleged billionaire who wouldn’t pay to help get his own mother-in-law retrieved after she was kidnapped. He claims to be bright enough to be a doctor, but stamps and trains couldn’t make this prat anything other than the village idiot.

      2

      Dr Bernard Ecclestone (AKA Bernie Ecclestone, ‘The Grinch’ and ‘Bungling Bernie’)
      Belgian-born lawyer turned liar Alexander van der Zwaan – “Playboy” turned lawyer Alexander van der Zwaan had it all but destroyed his reputation after being jailed for 30 days for lying to the FBI in April 2018 over Russia’s links to President Trump’s election campaign. Aside from receiving positive publicity in Tatler after marrying Eva Khan, daughter of a Ukrainian-Russian billionaire named German Khan, in a “lavish society ceremony” at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire in June 2017, this “ostentatious” Belgian-born, Notting Hill based attorney might now realise that telling the truth is generally for the best.

      3

      Alexander van der Zwaan
      Badly dressed bigoted property tycoons Fergus and Judith Wilson – Fat former boxer Fergus Wilson and his badly dressed Hyacinth Bucket-like wife banned “coloured people” from renting from them in Kent

      4

      Fergus and Judith Wilson
      Alfie Best II – Romany Gypsy turned multi-millionaire businessman

      5

      Alfie Best II
      2006 Securitas depot robber Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani (AKA ‘Lightning Lee’ and ‘The Stopwatch’) – Cage fighter and mastermind of Britain’s biggest cash robbery

      6

      Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani (AKA ‘Lightning Lee’ and ‘The Stopwatch’)
      Chrissie Rucker

      7

      Chrissie Rucker MBE
      Alison Platt

      8

      Alison Platt
      The Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE (better known as Karren Brady, AKA “The First Lady of Football”)

      9

      The Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE (better known as Karren Brady, AKA “The First Lady of Football”)
      The Rt. Hon. The Lord Alliance CBE (Born: Davoud Alliance, Persian: داوود آلیانس, Hebrew: דייוויד אליאנס)

      10

      The Rt. Hon. The Lord Alliance CBE (Born: Davoud Alliance, Persian: داوود آلیانس, Hebrew: דייוויד אליאנס)
      Christina Ketley (AKA “Mrs Goldfinger”)

      11

      Christina Ketley
      Pete Halat

      12

      Pete Halat
      Businessman and West Ham United shareholder David Sullivan (AKA “Dave Sullivan”)

      13

      David Sullivan
      Radovan Vitek

      14

      Radovan Vitek
      Alphonse Fletcher, Jr.

      15

      Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. (AKA “Buddy Fletcher”)
      Martin Taylor

      16

      Martin Taylor
      Eike Batista

      17

      Eike Batista
      Alexandra Lebenthal

      18

      Alexandra Lebenthal (AKA “The New Queen of Wall Street”)
      Sam Cook

      19

      Sam Cook
      Dame Shirley Porter DBE

      20

      Dame Shirley Porter DBE (née Shirley Cohen)
      Oliver Trusgnach

      21

      Oliver Trusgnach
      Raj Shastri

      22

      Raj Von Badlo (also known as Raj Shastri and Raj Paull)
      Aby Rosen

      23

      Aby Rosen
      Nathan Goralnik

      24

      Nathan Goralnik (AKA “Nate Goralnik”)
      karen blackett

      25

      Karen Blackett OBE
      lady de rothschild

      26

      Lady de Rothschild (also known as Lynn Forester de Rothschild, née Lynn Forester)

      27

      Ryan Serhant

      28

      Felix Dennis (1947 – 2014)

      29

      Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (AKA “The Winklevii”)

      30

      Archibald Hall (AKA Archibald Thomson-Hall, Roy Fontaine, the Killer Butler and the Monster Butler, 1924 – 2002)

      31

      Paul Reichmann (1930 – 2013)

      32

      Yan Assoun

      33

      Catherine Hooper

      34

      Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun

      35

      Nicholas van Hoogstraten (also known as Adolph von Hessen and born Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten)

      36

      Jesse Livermore (1877 – 1940)

      37

      Michelle Mone OBE

      38

      Hillel Nahmad (AKA “Helly Nahmad”)

      39

      Andreas Panayiotou

      40

      Peter Scott (born Peter Craig Gulston, 1931 – 2013)

      41

      Hilary Devey

      42

      Marcus Cooper

      43

      Ronald Edwards (1931 – 1994), better known as Buster Edwards

      44

      Giovanni Di Stefano

      45

      David Elias

      46

      Eric Hersman

      47

      Robert Bourne and Sally Greene OBE

      48

      Leslie "Les" Allen-Vercoe (also known as Les Vercoe)

      49

      Raffaele Mincione

      50

      Captain Simon Mann

      51

      Jack O'Shea

      52

      James Murdoch

      53

      Donald Trump Sr.

      54

      Lord & Lady Black (Conrad Black & Barbara Amiel)

      55

      Andrew Davis