Copetas, A. Craig. Metal Men: Marc Rich and the 10-Billion-Dollar Scam.
New York: Harper & Row (Perennial Library), 1986. 224 pages.
Marc Rich started as a "metal man," a specialized form of commodity
trading that deals in mineral resources. Of the eighty natural metals in the
earth, forty are of industrial importance, and are bought and sold on the
open market by traders. Innocent investors speculate on price fluctuations,
while the metal men -- known for their wheeling and dealing -- might bribe
foreign officials, start market rumors, or play tricks on other traders.
Marc Rich did all of the above and more, and made $10 billion in the process.
He started in 1954 at Philipp Brothers Trading, and by the 1970s was making
huge profits for them by venturing into the spot oil market. At the end of
1973 he and Pincus (Pinky) Green left to form their own empire. They hired
away some of Philipp Brothers' more aggressive traders -- the young high-
rollers who thrived on cocaine and casual sex in the fast lane. Operating
from New York, London, and Switzerland, Rich was in a league where one
country is played off against another, with shadowy deals washed through
Panamanian shell companies and dripped into off-shore banks. In the early
1980s, the U.S. went after Rich for tax evasion and oil-pricing scams. But
as of 1994, he was living comfortably in Zug, Switzerland, where he is so
important to the local economy that the Swiss legal system still refuses to
extradite him.
ISBN 0-06-097060-X
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page