Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney built his $250 million fortune with the help of two of Britain’s most disreputable business figures – Guinness fraudster Jack Lyons and crooked newspaper boss Robert Maxwell.
In the 1980s both men invested large sums in the Republican candidate’s first private equity fund, started during his years at Bain & Company, which launched his now highly controversial career in finance.
Romney is under increasing pressure to release details of his business affairs including tax returns for the years before 2010 and details of offshore holdings, including a Swiss bank account.
Flamboyant publishing tycoon Maxwell was the former head of the left-wing Mirror Group newspapers and a one-time owner of the New York Daily News.
He died in mysterious circumstances in 1991 at the age of 68 after falling overboard from his luxury yacht off the Canary Islands after which it was discovered he had plundered hundreds of millions from an employee pension scheme.
Lyons, who died in 2008, was one of the notorious ‘Guinness Four’ convicted for a massive share trading fraud in which they attempted to inflate the price of Guinness shares to assist a take-over bid for Scottish drinks company Distillers.
He was subsequently fined £4 million for theft and false accounting and stripped of his knighthood.
In 1984 Lyons, a former colleague of Mr Romney’s at Bain & Company, along with members of his family invested almost $3million in Mr Romney’s capital fund.
He then recruited Maxwell who invested $2 million in the fund.
Both Lyons and Maxwell kept money in tax havens and the latest revelations will be a blow to Romney whose financial career is increasingly being brought into question.
Romney has claimed his fortune and career history is proof of his ability to run the country.
But Barrack Obama has accused him of tax dodging and profiteering from the destruction of companies.
Crooked newspaper boss Robert Maxwell
Jack Lyons was convicted in the Guinness Affair
Investors: Crooked newspaper boss Robert Maxwell (left) and convicted fraudster Jack Lyons (right) both invested in Mr Romney’s first private equity fund
Scandal: Daily Mirror workers demonstrating, after £458million had been looted from the companies pension scheme by the late owner Robert Maxwell
Scandal: Daily Mirror workers demonstrating, after £458million had been looted from the companies pension scheme by the late owner Robert Maxwell
Mr Romney was a senior management consultant at Bain during one of the most controversial periods in the firm’s history when they became caught up in the Guinness scandal as advisers to the drinks firm.
https://txlady706.home.blog/2020/02/05/5-feb-2020-romneys-fortune-tied-to-maxwell-clinton-and-cuba/