This Mayfair based property tycoon was born in Tehran and owns a Mangusta motor yacht named “Veni Vidi Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). His Rolls-Royce Phantom, numberplate “2V,” is often spotted outside London’s finest establishments and an SFO investigation into his business affairs has now been sensibly put to bed.
Category: TYCOONS
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Vincent Tchenguiz
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Leona Helmsley (1920 – 2007)
“The Queen of Mean” was a chain-smoking hotelier and real estate tycoon with a reputation for tyrannical behaviour. She took the view that “only the little people pay taxes” but was investigated and convicted of federal income tax evasion in 1989. Sentenced to 16 years, she served just 19 months in prison and 2 months under house arrest. Worth some $8 billion, Helmsley left her Maltese dog, Trouble, $12 million in trust. -
Gina Rinehart
Whatever she does, “The House of Hancock comes first.” This little known Australian daughter of a bush pilot and prospector is now the world’s richest woman with a worth of some £18 billion. Known as the “Iron Lady,” twice-married Rinehart’s fortune is expanding at a rate of £21,000 a second and if this continues this larger than life lady will be the richest person on the planet. When Prince Philip met her he asked if she’d been invited simply because she had “the largest hat in Western Australia.” Her father called her his “right-hand man” and “young fella” and she’s even taken on three of her own children in court. The Hancock Mountain Range is named after her and commemorates her family’s contribution to mining in the Pilbara region. -
Alan Miller
The nephew of That’s Life!’s Esther Rantzen is a financial titan and philanthropist. Miller is a founding partner and CIO of SCM Private, a Sloane Street based wealth management firm, but he’s best known for his successes at New Star Asset Management, Jupiter Asset Management and Gartmore Invetment Management. Here is a man of principle who has also run the London Marathon twice and the New York Marathon thrice. -
Owen Oyston
This flamboyant fedora wearing tycoon made his fortune selling an estate agency empire just before the 1987 stock market crash. He’s now worth in excess of £100 million. Married twice to a former Miss Blackpool, his 13th century Lancashire home, Claughton Hall, was moved from the bottom of a hill to the top. He served three years in prison for raping a woman who strangely couldn’t remember in which year the crime occurred. Oyston continues to protest his innocence but with his majority stake in the prospering Blackpool F.C. and other interests, he’s got plenty else to keep himself busy. -
Sidney Frank (1919 – 2006)
A self-made billionaire, Frank was the Hugh Heffner of the booze industry. He had major successes with both Jägermeister and Grey Goose vodka. A personal profit of $1.6 billion from the sale of the latter allowed him to become philanthropic and especially eccentric. In his final years he conducted most of his business deals from bed whilst smoking custom made Davdoff cigars. He died on his private plane in 2006 but will be remembered as the man who changed vodka. -
Robert Maxwell (1923 – 1991)
“The Bouncing Czech” was variously an MP, a spy and a media mogul. Before his empire collapsed he stated: “You are as safe with me as you would be in the Bank of England.” He was a notoriously bad tempered beast of a man and in death he remains as large and as colourful as he was alive. Various theories can be found on the internet about him being killed by Mossad, working in a fish and chip shop in Huddersfield and hanging out with Shergar the racehorse. Thankfully, instead, he’s safely been laid to rest on the Mount of Olives. -
Nick & Christian Candy
Started a property empire with a loan of £6,000 from their grandmother in 1995. Now said to be worth anything upto £13 billion, this pair are most famous for their One Hyde Park development next to The Mandarin Oriental. London based Nick is married to the Australian singer and former Neighbours actress Holly Valance whilst Monaco based Christian is married to a former “It-girl” named Emily Crompton. In one interview Nick was quoted as saying: “We’ve probably got about 10 cars”. With this much wealth, what’s a car between friends? -
Rupert Murdoch
This father of six is a media mogul who doesn’t back down. Faced with being labeled the prime culprit in the phone hacking debacle, he battles on. His second wife Wendi packs a mean left hook.