Citizendia
Your Ad Here

For other persons named Robert Maxwell, see Robert Maxwell (disambiguation). Robert Maxwell (1923–1991 was a British media proprietor and Member of Parliament
Robert Maxwell

Born Ján Ludvík Hoch
June 10, 1923(1923-06-10)
Czechoslovakia
Died November 5, 1991
Sea around Canary Islands
Nationality British
Other names Ian Robert Maxwell
Occupation Publisher, media proprietor
Religious beliefs Jewish
Children Ghislaine Maxwell, Kevin Maxwell, Ian Maxwell

Ian Robert Maxwell MC (June 10, 1923 – November 5, 1991) was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament (MP), who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire, which collapsed after his death due to the fraudulent transactions Maxwell had committed to support his business empire, including illegal use of pension funds. Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view A media proprietor is a person who controls either through personal ownership or a dominant position in a Public company, a significant part of the Mass media. Kevin Francis Herbert Maxwell (born 1959 is a British businessman son of Robert Maxwell and brother of Ian Maxwell. Ian Maxwell is a British businessman and the son of the media mogul the late Robert Maxwell. The Military Cross ( MC) is the third level Military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993 other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A media proprietor is a person who controls either through personal ownership or a dominant position in a Public company, a significant part of the Mass media. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories [1]

Contents

Early life

Robert Maxwell was born Ján Ludvík Hoch in the small town of Slatinské Doly, Carpathian Ruthenia, the easternmost province of pre-World War II Czechoslovakia (now part of Slatina-Doly (in Russian Solotvino [Солотвино]) Ukraine) into a poor Yiddish-speaking Jewish family. Solotvyno (Romanian "Slatina"Hungarian Aknaszlatina, Ukrainian Солотвино) is a village in the Tiachivskyi Raion in the Transcarpatian Oblast Carpathian Ruthenia, aka Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Rusinko Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia ( Rusyn and Ukrainian Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Solotvyno (Romanian "Slatina"Hungarian Aknaszlatina, Ukrainian Солотвино) is a village in the Tiachivskyi Raion in the Transcarpatian Oblast Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ His parents were: Mechel Hoch, and Hannah Slomowitz. He had 8 siblings. In 1939, the area was reclaimed by Hungary to which it had belonged for a thousand years. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Most of his family was killed after Hungary was occupied in 1944 by its former ally, Nazi Germany but he had already escaped, arriving in Britain in 1940 as a 17-year-old refugee. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers He joined the British Army Pioneer Corps in 1941 and transferred to the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1943. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's was an Infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 with antecedents dating from 1756 He fought his way across Europe from the Normandy beaches, at which time he was still a sergeant, to Berlin. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. His intelligence and gift for languages gained him a commission in the final year of the war, and eventual promotion to captain, and in January 1945 he received the Military Cross. The Military Cross ( MC) is the third level Military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993 other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to In the same year he shot and killed the mayor of a German town his unit was attempting to capture. [2] It was during this time that he changed his name several times, finally settling on Ian Robert Maxwell. He almost never used the "Ian," however; he only retained it as a vestige of his original name.

After the war, Maxwell first worked as a newspaper censor for the British military command in Berlin in Allied-occupied Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Later, he used various contacts in the Allied occupation authorities to go into business, becoming the British and United States distributor for Springer Verlag, a publisher of scientific books. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Springer Science+Business Media or Springer (ˈʃpʁɪŋɐ is a worldwide Publishing company based in Germany, which publishes textbooks academic In 1951 he bought Pergamon Press Limited (PPL), a minor textbook publisher, from Springer Verlag, and went into publishing on his own. Pergamon Press was a United Kingdom based publishing house founded by Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals He rapidly built Pergamon into a major publishing house. By the 1960s, Maxwell was a wealthy man, while still espousing in public the socialism of his youth. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution

Member of Parliament

In 1964 he was elected to the House of Commons for the Labour Party, and was MP for Buckingham until he lost his seat in 1970 to the Conservative William Benyon. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Buckingham is a Constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Sir William Richard Benyon (born 17 January 1930) is a retired British Conservative Party politician Berkshire landowner and former Maxwell was a prosecution witness in the obscenity case concerning the American novel Last Exit to Brooklyn in 1966. Last Exit to Brooklyn is a 1964 Novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr He enjoyed mixed popularity in the Labour Party, having what was perceived by some to be an arrogant and domineering manner.

Maxwell had also acquired a reputation for questionable business practices. In 1969 Saul Steinberg, who headed a company then known as Leasco Data Processing Corporation, was interested in a takeover bid for Pergamon. Saul Phillip Steinberg (born Brooklyn August 1939 is a Jewish American businessman who first became wealthy in the 1960s by leasing IBM computers In negotiations, Maxwell falsely claimed that a subsidiary responsible for publishing encyclopedias was extremely profitable. [3] Following Steinberg's withdrawal on the discovery of the dishonesty, Maxwell was the subject of an inquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the Takeover Code, then in force, and at the same time the U. The Department of Trade and Industry was a United Kingdom government department which was disbanded with the announcement of the creation of the Department for Business S. Congress was investigating Leasco's takeover practices. The DTI report concluded: "We regret having to conclude that, notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company. " It was found that Maxwell had contrived to maximise Pergamon's share price through transactions between his private family companies. [3] Maxwell lost control of Pergamon in England—but not in the United States—for a time. Backed by his editors, he resumed control and eventually sold the company.

Business activities

Maxwell long sought to buy a daily newspaper, hoping to exercise political influence through the media. In 1969 he was prevented from buying the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch, who became his arch rival in the British newspaper world. The News of the World is a British Tabloid Newspaper published every Sunday is gay Bold text' Keith Rupert Murdoch', AC, KCSG (born Melbourne, March 11 1931 usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-American The battle for the News of the World was particularly acrimonious, Maxwell accused Murdoch of employing "the laws of the jungle" to acquire the paper and said he had "made a fair and bona fide offer. . . which has been frustrated and defeated after three months of [cynical] manoeuvring". Murdoch denied this, arguing the shareholders of the News of the World Group had "judged [his] record in Australia". For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.

In 1970 Maxwell established the Maxwell Foundation in Liechtenstein, a tax haven. The Principality of Liechtenstein (Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a tiny doubly landlocked Alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all A condition of this type of company was that very little information is publicly available, which according to the Department of Trade and Industry suited Maxwell's business methods. The Department of Trade and Industry was a United Kingdom government department which was disbanded with the announcement of the creation of the Department for Business In 1974 he reacquired PPL. In 1981 Maxwell acquired (through PPL) the British Printing Corporation (BPC) and changed its name to the British Printing and Communication Corporation (BPCC). The company was later sold off to a management buy-out, and is now known as Polestar. In July 1984 Maxwell (again through PPL) acquired Mirror Group Newspapers from Reed International plc. Trinity Mirror plc is a large United Kingdom Newspaper and Magazine publisher Reed Elsevier is a global Publisher and information provider It came into being in autumn 1992 as the result of a merger between Reed International a British MGN were publishers of the Daily Mirror, a pro-Labour Party newspaper. The Daily Mirror, often referred to simply as The Mirror, is a British Tabloid daily Newspaper founded in 1903 He also bought the American interests of the Macmillan publishing house. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held International Publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck

By the 1980s Maxwell's various companies owned the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail and several other newspapers, Pergamon Press, Nimbus Records, Collier books, Maxwell Directories, Prentice Hall Information Services, Macmillan (US) publishing, and the Berlitz language schools. The Daily Mirror, often referred to simply as The Mirror, is a British Tabloid daily Newspaper founded in 1903 Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The Daily Record is a Scottish Tabloid newspaper, based in Glasgow. The Sunday Mail is a Scottish Tabloid Newspaper published every Sunday Nimbus Records is a British Record company specializing in classical music recordings Prentice Hall is a leading educational publisher It is an Imprint of Pearson Education Inc He also owned a half-share of MTV in Europe and other European television interests, Maxwell Cable TV and Maxwell Entertainment. MTV ( Music Television) is an American Cable television network based in New York City. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic In 1987 Maxwell purchased part of IPC Media to create Fleetway Publications. IPC Media is one of the United Kingdom 's leading consumer Magazine and digital publisher with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a publishing company mainly producing comic magazines for the UK.

Maxwell pioneered the dissemination of highly specialized scientific information, responding to the exponential growth of investment in academic research. After 1970, when research universities diverted attention from the growth of their libraries to the growth of financial reserves, he and other publishers were blamed for greatly increased subscription fees for scientific journals. For a broader class of publications which include scientific journals see Academic journal. The need to maintain profits for publishers and the profitability of higher education institutions created budget difficulties for academic libraries, and for publishers of monographs. At the same time, Maxwell's links with the Eastern European totalitarian regimes resulted in a number of biographies (normally considered to be hagiographies) of those countries' then leaders, with sycophantic interviews conducted by Maxwell, for which, in the UK, he received much derision. Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private Hagiography ( is the study of Saints. A hagiography, from Greek (hağios (ἅγιος "holy" or "saint" and graphē (γραφή A sycophant (from the Greek συκοφάντης sykophántēs) is a Servile person who acting in his or her own self interest attempts to win favor

Maxwell was also well known as the chairman of Oxford United Football Club, saving them from bankruptcy and leading them into the top flight of English football, winning the League Cup in 1986. For the Northern Irish football club see Oxford United Stars F The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition Oxford United were to pay a heavy price for his involvement in club affairs when Maxwell's questionable business dealings came into the public domain. Maxwell bought into Derby County F.C. in 1987. Derby County Football Club is a professional football club based at Pride Park Stadium in Derby England. He also attempted to buy Manchester United in 1984, but refused to pay the price that the owner Martin Edwards had put on the club. For the a British crime novelist, critic and solicitor see Martin Edwards (author.

Business difficulties

Rumours circulated for many years about Maxwell's heavy indebtedness and his dishonest business practices. But Maxwell was well financed and had good lawyers, and threats of costly libel actions caused his potential critics to treat him with caution (the onus of proof in UK defamation law is on the defendant). The satirical magazine Private Eye lampooned him as a "Cap'n Bob" and the "bouncing Czech", but was unable to reveal what it knew about Maxwell's businesses. Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical Magazine, edited by Ian Hislop. Maxwell took out several libel actions against Private Eye, one resulting in the magazine losing an estimated £225,000 and Maxwell using his commercial power to hit back with Not Private Eye. Not Private Eye was a one-off spoof of the British satirical magazine Private Eye. [4]

Evidence suggests that Maxwell's business empire was built on debt and deception. He had "borrowed" millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds to prop up the financial position of his group of companies. This was, at the time, not illegal and fairly common practice. In the late 1980s he bought and sold companies at a rapid rate, apparently to conceal the unsound foundations of his business. In 1990 he launched an ambitious new project, a transnational newspaper called The European. The European, billed as " Europe's first national newspaper " was a British weekly newspaper founded by Robert Maxwell, It lasted from The following year he was forced to sell Pergamon Press and Maxwell Directories to Elsevier for £440 million to cover debts, but he used some of this money to buy the New York Daily News. Elsevier, the world's largest Publisher of Medical and Scientific literature, forms part of the Reed Elsevier group The Daily News of New York City is the fifth most-widely circulated daily Newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 703137

By late 1990, investigative journalists, mainly from the Murdoch papers, were exploring Maxwell's manipulation of his companies' pension schemes. Investigative journalism is a type of reporting in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest often involving crime Political corruption, or some other Scandal During May 1991 it was reported that Maxwell companies and pension schemes were failing to meet statutory reporting obligations. Maxwell employees lodged complaints with British and U. S. regulatory agencies about the abuse of Maxwell company pension funds. Maxwell may have suspected that the truth about his questionable practices was about to be made public.

In Christopher Hitchens's 1995 book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, the author claims that Maxwell was involved with Mother Teresa in a "fund-raising scheme" through his various newspaper businesses. Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is a British Author, Journalist, Literary critic and American The Missionary Position Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice is a book by Christopher Hitchens about Mother Teresa 's life and work Mother Teresa, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, (born August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian ref>Spink According to the book: "Mr. Maxwell inveigled a not unwilling Mother Teresa into a fundraising scheme run by his newspaper group, and then, it seems (having got her to join him in some remarkable publicity photographs), he made off with the money. " One such photograph is reproduced within the book.

"Death spiral"

Shortly before his death, at a time of high interest rates and during a deep recession, Maxwell had substantial borrowings secured on his shareholdings in his public companies, Mirror and Maxwell Communications. The banks were permitted to sell these holdings in certain circumstances, which they did, depressing the share price and reducing the coverage of the remaining debt. Maxwell then used more money, both borrowed and redirected from pension funds and even the daily balances of his businesses, to buy shares on the open market, in an attempt to prop up the price and provide the shares as collateral for further debt. In reality he was bailing water back into a sinking ship.

Death

On November 5, 1991, at the age of 68, Maxwell is presumed to have fallen overboard from his luxury yacht, the 'Lady Ghislaine', which was cruising off the Canary Islands, and his body was subsequently found floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Lady Mona K ( formerly Lady Ghislaine is a luxury Yacht built by Amels in 1986. The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish He was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives (also Mount Olivet, جبل الزيتون الطور Jebel az-Zeitun הר הזיתים Har HaZeitim; is a mountain ridge in east Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the The official verdict was accidental drowning, though some commentators have surmised that he may have committed suicide, and others that he was murdered. Drowning is Death as caused by suffocation when a liquid causes interruption of the body's absorption of oxygen from the air leading to Asphyxia. In English law, murder is considered the most serious form of Homicide, in which one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to His daughter, Ghislaine Maxwell, quickly renounced on television the notion of an accidental death.

Politicians were swift to pay their tributes. The then Prime Minister, John Major, said Maxwell had given him 'valuable insights' into the situation in the Soviet Union during the attempted coup. Sir John Major KG CH ACIB (born 29 March 1943 is a British Politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom He was a 'great character', Mr Major added. Neil Kinnock, the then Labour Party leader, spoke of the former Labour MP for Buckingham, from 1964-70, as a man with "such a zest for life . Neil Gordon Kinnock Baron Kinnock PC (born 28 March 1942 is a British Politician. . . Bob Maxwell was a unique figure who attracted controversy, envy and loyalty in great measure throughout his rumbustious life. He was a steadfast supporter of the Labour Party". It was later alleged that Maxwell had been financing the Labour leader's private office and that Maxwell was an agent of the MI6, the British Intelligence Agency. One version, proposed by John Loftus and Mark Aarons, has Maxwell hounded to death by the British Secret Service that conspired to deny him the financial credit he needed to save his publishing empire. [5]

Shortly before Maxwell's death, a self-proclaimed former Mossad officer named Ari Ben-Menashe had approached a number of news organizations in Britain and the United States with the allegation that Maxwell and the Daily Mirror's foreign editor, Nick Davies, were both long time agents for the Israel intelligence service, Mossad. Ari Ben-Menashe (ארי בן מנשה is the author of Profits of War Inside the Secret U For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Mossad ( HaMossad leModi'in v'leTafkidim Meyuhadim) (המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים - Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations Ben-Menashe also claimed that in 1986 Maxwell had tipped off the Israeli Embassy in London that Mordechai Vanunu had given information about Israel's nuclear capability to the Sunday Times, then to the Daily Mirror, (Vanunu was subsequently lured from London, where the Sunday Times had him in hiding, to Rome, whence he was kidnapped and returned to Israel, convicted of treason, and imprisoned for 18 years. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Mordechai Vanunu (מרדכי ואנונו born in Marrakech, Morocco on October 13 1954 is an Israeli former nuclear The Sunday Times is a Sunday Broadsheet Newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The Daily Mirror, often referred to simply as The Mirror, is a British Tabloid daily Newspaper founded in 1903 Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. )

No news organization would publish Ben-Menashe's story at first, because of Maxwell's famed litigiousness, but eventually New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh repeated some of the allegations during a press conference in London held to publicize The Samson Option, Hersh's book about Israel's nuclear weapons. The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry Seymour (Sy Myron Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Pulitzer Prize winning investigative Journalist and Author A British Member of Parliament asked a question about Hersh's claims in the House of Commons (with the protection of Parliamentary Privilege which allows MP's to ask questions in Parliament without risk of being sued for defamation), which in turn meant that British newspapers were able to report what had been said without fear of being sued for libel. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords Parliamentary privilege, also known as absolute privilege, is a legal mechanism employed within the legislative bodies of countries whose Constitutions are based on Nevertheless, writs were swiftly issued by Mirror Group Solicitors on instruction from Maxwell, who called the claims "ludicrous, a total invention". Maxwell then sacked Nick Davies, and just days later, was found dead. [6]

The close proximity of his death to these allegations, for which Ben-Menashe had offered no evidence, served to heighten interest in Maxwell's relationship with Israel, and the Daily Mirror has since published claims, again without evidence, that he was assassinated by Mossad after he attempted to blackmail them. Blackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public a family member or associates unless a demand made upon the [7]

Maxwell was given a funeral in Israel better befitting a head of state than a publisher, as described by author Gordon Thomas:

On November 10, 1991, Maxwell’s funeral took place on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, across from the Temple Mount. For the fictional supervillain see " Typeface (comics;" for the singer/songwriter see " Gordon Thomas (outsider musician. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. The Mount of Olives (also Mount Olivet, جبل الزيتون الطور Jebel az-Zeitun הר הזיתים Har HaZeitim; is a mountain ridge in east Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the It had all the trappings of a state occasion, attended by the country’s government and opposition leaders. No fewer than six serving and former heads of the Israeli intelligence community listened as Prime Minister Shamir eulogized: "He has done more for Israel than can today be said" (Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad, St. (יִצְחָק שָׁמִיר born Icchak Jaziernicki on 15 October 1915 was Prime Minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992 Martin's Press, 1999). [8]

A hint of Maxwell's service to the Israeli state was provided by Loftus and Aarons, who described Maxwell's contacts with Czech anti-Stalinist Communist leaders in 1948 as crucial to the Czech decision to arm Israel in their War of Independence that year. Czech military assistance was both unique and crucial for the fledgling state as it battled for its existence [9]

Events after his death

Maxwell's death triggered a flood of revelations about his controversial business dealings and activities. It emerged that, without adequate prior authorisation, he had used hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds to finance his corporate debt, his frantic takeovers and his lavish lifestyle. Thousands of Maxwell employees lost their pensions.

The Maxwell companies filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992. His sons, Kevin Maxwell and Ian Maxwell, were declared bankrupt with debts of £400 million. Kevin Francis Herbert Maxwell (born 1959 is a British businessman son of Robert Maxwell and brother of Ian Maxwell. Ian Maxwell is a British businessman and the son of the media mogul the late Robert Maxwell. In 1995 the two Maxwell sons and two other former directors went on trial for fraud, but were acquitted in 1996. In the broadest sense a fraud is a Deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual In 2001 the Department of Trade and Industry report on the collapse of the Maxwell companies accused both Maxwell and his sons of acting "inexcusably".

It came to light in early 2006 that, before his death, Maxwell was being investigated for possible war crimes in Germany in 1945. This led to renewed speculation that his death was a suicide. [2]

Maxwell in popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ "The pensioners' tale", BBC, 29 March 2001
  2. ^ a b "War crimes police tracked Maxwell", BBC, 10 March 2006
  3. ^ a b Dennis Barker and Christopher Sylvester "The grasshopper", - Obituary of Maxwell, The Guardian, 6 November 1991. Headington Hill Hall stands on Headington Hill in the east of Oxford, England. Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, The Scottish Daily News (SDN was a left-of-centre daily newspaper published in Glasgow, Scotland, from May 5 to November 8 Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved on 19 July 2007.
  4. ^ "Not Private Eye", Tony Quinn, Magforum. com, 6 March 2007
  5. ^ John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People, New York, St. Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Martin's Griffin, 1994.
  6. ^ "Maxwell's body found in sea", Ben Laurance, John Hooper, David Sharrock, and Georgina Henry, The Guardian, 6 November 1991
  7. ^ "Robert Maxwell was a Mossad spy : New claim on tycoon's mystery death", Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, Daily Mirror, 2 December 2002. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.
  8. ^ "Review : Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad", Freedomwriter. com
  9. ^ Loftus and Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews.
  10. ^ VF Daily: Bruce Feirstein: The Tao of Bond-Film Naming: Online Only: vanityfair.com
  11. ^ Suchet in title role of BBC Two's Maxwell
  12. ^ Tetris: A chip off the old bloc

Further reading

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Frank Markham		 Member of Parliament for Buckingham
1964–1970		 Succeeded by
William Benyon
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories Sir Sydney Frank Markham ( 19 October 1897 &ndash 13 October 1975) was a British politician who represented three parties in A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Buckingham is a Constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Sir William Richard Benyon (born 17 January 1930) is a retired British Conservative Party politician Berkshire landowner and former
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic