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Marc Rich, Pardoned Financier, Dies at 78 Marc Rich, Pardoned Financier, Dies at 78
(about 4 hours later)
Marc Rich, the former fugitive oil trader and founder of the commodities trading giant Glencore International, died on Wednesday in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was 78. Marc Rich, a shrewd, swashbuckling oil trader who became a fugitive from the law after being indicted on a charge of widespread tax evasion, illegally dealing with Iran and other crimes, and who was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton during his last hours in office in 2001, setting off a whirlwind of criticism, died on Wednesday in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was 78.
The cause was a brain stroke at a hospital, according to a statement from his spokesman. The cause was a stroke, his spokesman said.
Mr. Rich courted controversy throughout his colorful career, and was indicted by the United States in the early 1980s on charges of tax evasion and illegally trading with Iran. Mr. Rich fled the Holocaust with his parents, and rose to be one of history’s most successful commodity traders, cornering the market for aluminum, silver and zinc, and helping create a spot market for oil outside the control of the international petroleum giants. Nicknamed “El Matador” for his steel nerves and razor-sharp acumen, he pushed legal limits and in the early 1980s was indicted in 1983 on 65 criminal counts that included tax fraud and trading with Iran when it was holding American hostages.
After being one of the country’s most famous fugitives for the next two decades, Mr. Rich eventually received a pardon from President Bill Clinton on his last day in office in early 2001. He paid the government around $200 million in civil penalties, but fled to Switzerland to escape criminal prosecution. The I.R.S. offered a $500,000 reward for his capture, and the F.B.I. put him on its “most wanted” list along with Osama bin Laden. Even as he remained the world’s biggest trader of metals and minerals and lived in opulence, Mr. Rich became best known as the world’s most famous fugitive.
The pardon brought the oil trader back into the headlines after it was revealed that Mr. Rich’s former wife, Denise Eisenberg, had given donations to the Democratic Party in 2000, according to official records. Then on Jan. 20, 2001, President Clinton included Mr. Rich’s name on his list of pardons. It immediately became the most debated presidential pardon since President Gerald R. Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon in 1974, and speculation about Mr. Clinton’s motivation was rampant.
Despite his notoriety, Mr. Rich, whose net worth was estimated at $2.5 billion, continued to work in the commodities industry, and founded Marc Rich & Company, the precursor of Glencore International, the commodities trader, which he later sold to the company’s management team in 1993. It was soon learned that Mr. Rich’s former wife, Denise Rich, had made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton library, and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Barak, had lobbied Mr. Clinton for the pardon. Rabbi Irving Greenberg, the board chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, had also pressed Mr. Rich’s case, using official Holocaust Memorial stationery. So did King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
Mr. Rich was born in Antwerp, Belgium, but moved to New York with his family to escape the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Eric H. Holder Jr., then the deputy attorney general and now the attorney general, advised the White House that he was “neutral leaning favorable” to the pardon. Only weeks later, Mr. Holder said he regretted the recommendation.
He began his career as a metals trader in the early 1970s, and gained prominence during the 1973-4 oil crisis when he circumvented the Arab oil embargo to sell oil to American companies in desperate need of supplies at increasingly high prices. Mr. Clinton later quoted respected tax experts who concluded that no crime was committed and that the tax-reporting tactics of Mr. Rich and his corporation were reasonable. Shabtai Shavit, a former head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, expressed his gratitude to Mr. Rich for routinely allowing agents to use his offices around the world, and financing airlifts of Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen and other countries.
Mr. Rich never returned to the United States, nor did American agents succeed in several attempts to kidnap him. Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $2.5 billion.
Marcell David Reich was born on Dec. 18, 1934, in Antwerp, Belgium, where his father eked outs living by peddling factory discards door to door. In the early 1940s, the family immigrated to the United States, settling in Kansas City, Mo., where they opened a jewelry store. They moved to Queens in 1950, and his father, David, started a factory to make burlap bags.
Mr. Rich began his career as a metals trader in the early 1970s, and gained prominence during the 1973-74 oil crisis when he circumvented the Arab oil embargo to sell oil to American companies in desperate need of supplies at increasingly high prices.
He continued to buy oil from Iran after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution despite American sanctions against the country, and remained unapologetic about his activities.He continued to buy oil from Iran after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution despite American sanctions against the country, and remained unapologetic about his activities.
“They respected the contracts,” Mr. Rich told Daniel Ammann, a Swiss journalist, in 2009, in reference to Iran’s national oil company. “We performed a service for them. We bought the oil, we handled the transport and we sold it. They couldn’t do it themselves, so we were able to do it.”“They respected the contracts,” Mr. Rich told Daniel Ammann, a Swiss journalist, in 2009, in reference to Iran’s national oil company. “We performed a service for them. We bought the oil, we handled the transport and we sold it. They couldn’t do it themselves, so we were able to do it.”
His clients also included the apartheid regime of South Africa and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.His clients also included the apartheid regime of South Africa and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
From 1973, Mr. Rich was similarly one of Israel’s most important oil suppliers for more than 20 years, and he held Israeli, Spanish and Belgian citizenship by the end of his life. From 1973, Mr. Rich was similarly one of Israel’s most important oil suppliers for more than 20 years. By the end of his life, he held Israeli, Spanish and Belgian citizenship.
In 1983, he fled from the United States to Switzerland after he was indicted on charges of fraud, trading with Iran and evading almost $50 million in taxes. All told, the offenses would have led to more than 300 years in prison. After leaving the United States and renouncing his citizenship, Mr. Rich sold many of his domestic business interests.
Over the years, Mr. Rich claimed that American authorities had attempted several times to bring him to justice, including a plan, which was never carried out, to use a helicopter in Switzerland to capture him, according to a book published by Mr. Ammann in 2009. Mr. Rich is survived by two daughters, Ilona Schacter-Rich and Danielle Kilstock Rich.
After leaving the United States and renouncing his citizenship, Mr. Rich sold many of his domestic business interests, including 20th Century Fox to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million in 1984.

Mark Scott contributed reporting.

Glencore, the commodities company he founded, recently acquired the mining company Xstrata for around $30 billion, and has become a global giant in a number of commodities, including oil, iron ore and coal.
“We are saddened to hear of the death of Marc. He was a friend and one of the great pioneers of the commodities trading industry,” Glencore-Xstrata’s current chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with his family at this time.”
He is expected to be buried in Israel on Thursday. He is survived by two daughters, Ilona Schacter-Rich and Danielle Kilstock Rich.