Robert Maxwell Net Worth was in the negatives at the time of his death. Ghislaine Maxwell Father got murdered in 1991.
Who Was Robert Maxwell?
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a British media proprietor, former member of Parliament , suspected spy, and fraudster. Originally from Czechoslovakia, Maxwell rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire. After his death, huge discrepancies in his companies’ finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund.
After Robert died in 1991, the inconsistency in the companies’ finances got disclosed. It included his illegal misappropriation of the Mirror Group Pension Fund.
Following Maxwell’s death, the European ceased publication, and the Maxwell Communication Corp. filed for bankruptcy in the United States and petitioned for court protection in Britain. His two sons were charged with, among other things, allying themselves with their father in fraudulent financial dealings.
What Was Robert Maxwell Net Worth At Death?
Robert Maxwell’s net worth was -$1 billion at the time of his death, reports Celebrity Net Worth.
Maxwell purchased Mirror Group Newspapers, British Corporation, and Macmillan Publishers.
In 1990 he launched the European, a London-based English-language weekly newspaper circulated throughout Europe. In 1991 he acquired the financially troubled New York Daily News and was a willing front-page hero.
The financial empire had become shaky, however. Debts exceeded profits. He sold part of Pergamon and floated shares of the Mirror Group Newspapers. He secretly siphoned some $1.2 billion from two of his flagship public companies and from employee pension funds in an effort to keep his empire from collapsing.
At the peak of his business empire, Robert’s net worth was $1.9 billion.
Robert lived an ostentatious and luxurious lifestyle. He stayed at the Heading ton Hill Hall, Oxford, and often traveled on his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, and flew in his helicopter.
He had to sell Pergamon Press and other successful businesses in 1989 to cover some of his debts.
After Maxwell’s death, his kids tried to keep the business together but failed as millions were stolen from the companies’ pension funds by his oldest. In 1992, the Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy. The business empire was in around $4 billion debt.
Ghislaine Maxwell Father Murder: How Did Robert Maxwell Die?
On November 5, 1991, while at sea, he mysteriously disappeared from his luxury yacht, and his nude body was later recovered from the Atlantic Ocean around the Canary Islands, Spain. An autopsy was inconclusive, but the unofficial probability was suicide.
His death shocked the country. Shock turned to anger within weeks when a £460m hole was discovered in the pension funds of his companies. A borrower of unimaginable scale, he had illegally raided the funds to prop up his empire, which was on the brink of collapse. Headlines such as The Man Who Saved the Mirror were swiftly replaced by Maxwell: The Robber.
Maxwell was honored with a lavish funeral in Israel. He got buried on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem.
Murder got ruled out by the judge in Robert’s case.
The Israeli President Chaim Herzog, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and several Israeli intelligence and politicians attended the service.
Meet Robert Maxwell Family
Robert Maxwell was born in Slatinske Doly, Carpathian Ruthenia, Czechoslovakia, into a poor Orthodox Jewish family.
Maxwell got married to Elizabeth Maxwell on March 15, 1945. His wife published her memoirs, A Mind of My Own: My Life with Robert Maxwell in November 1994.
The couple had nine kids, Ghislaine, Kevin, Isabel, Christine, Ian, Karine, Philip, Ann, and Michael. Karine passed away in 1957 due to leukemia and Michael died after six years in a coma after a 1961 car crash.
The family lived in a mansion at Broomfield Esher and Headington Hill Hall.