Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Saga of a Business Genius Who Attempts to Mind His Own Business

Taylor Conant reviews: The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich, by Daniel Ammann, 302 pgs:


The popular telling of the myth of the crimes of Marc Rich almost perfectly captures the modern American zeitgeist-- a businessman, the most evil and exploitative kind of villain that can plague a nation of honest and earnest people, sought to earn a profit via oil trades with the enemy (post-Revolution Iran) during a time of national crisis and embargo (the embarrassingly stupid hostage situation in Tehran circa 1979), evaded his tax obligations and then had the sheer nerve (or perhaps deep well of pure, black hatred within his heart) to refuse to stand trial for his crimes by fleeing to neutral Switzerland, using his enormous, illegally-acquired and not to mention positively unsightly personal wealth to buy himself immunity -- and eventually a full pardon -- from a criminal justice system to which lesser mortals must pay heed.

But if we peer a little closer (and trust the retelling of Rich's story in Daniel Ammann's biographic to be honest and accurate), we begin to see Marc Rich in an entirely different light-- if not immediately heroic, then certainly victimized by a benighted American public and tormented by a vengeful "limited" government with ulterior motives. Yes, in this new light, Marc Rich casts long shadows, and standing hunched over in the shadows we see the plotting, manipulative forms of then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani and then-US Federal prosecutor Sandy Weinberg, as representatives of themselves but also as representatives of the disaster of unbridled ego, political pragmatism and the twisted logic of the State that has nowadays become so popular.

The man's accomplishments are legend and long-form: single-handedly creating the world market for spot-price oil; circumventing blockades, trade barriers and hare-brained foreign policy situations to move commodities from the conflict-ridden pieces of earth where they lay, wasted, into the hands of producers all over the world who value them most; organizing a billion-dollar-a-year commodity trading company with his partner Pincus Green, whose reach spanned the globe; and evading the vagabonds and plunderers calling themselves the US federal government and the US Marshal Service for over a decade.

And the man's crime? Libertarians, steady yourselves-- doing business in certain places and in a certain fashion without the express permission of the United States federal government to do so. In other words, Marc Rich was guilty of minding his own business.

That's the reality of Marc Rich's crimes, but that was not the story fed to journalists by U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani on September 19th, 1983. On that day, the public learned of Rich's "fifty-one counts of fraud, racketeering" and "tax evasion" (pg. 116). "It was 'the largest tax evasion indictment ever,' Giuliani said."


"The defendants engaged in this scheme as a part of a pattern of racketeering activity in which they concealed in excess of $100 million in taxable income of the defendant Marc Rich International, most of which income was illegally generated through the defendants' violations of federal energy laws and regulations. This scheme, and pattern of racketeering activity, enabled the defendant Marc Rich International to evade taxes in excess of $48 million in United States taxes for the 1980 and 1981 tax years."

Giuliani, however, held back the most serious charge until the end of the press conference."

The most serious charge: "Marc Rich + Co. AG [Rich's Swiss trading corporation and mother-company to MRI] 'entered into contracts with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to purchase Iranian crude and fuel oil.' ... Trading with the enemy-- the gravest of accusations" (pg. 117).

This is how Marc Rich's crimes became famous, and Marc Rich himself infamous. Prior to these allegations, Rich had been a quiet genius, an unknown billionaire. For a man who would later become the detested scoundrel of a nation who had, until that time, been quite familiar with its many antiheroes (Billy the Kid, Al Capone, Charles Manson), the initial reaction of Sandy Weinberg to allegations against Marc Rich was telling.

"Marc who?" Weinberg asked. "I've never heard of a Marc Rich." (105)

Yet, this "accidental discovery" (117) of Weinberg and Giuliani's (trading with the enemy) would provide the political impetus to eventually charge Rich and partner Pincus Green with the nation's toughest "RICO" (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) laws, the "prosecutor's equivalent of nuclear weaponry" (122). For a man whose entire indictment contained not one crime of actual fraud or extortion, the traditional definition of racketeering, it's hard to imagine how racketeering charges could be justified. Actually, it's hard to imagine how any charges could be justified because, remember, Rich's crimes were not against actual, existing individuals but rather against the positive corporate mandates of the United States federal government and its immense regulatory and tax bureaucracies.

The real racket being run was that of the US tax authorities, the real crime Rich -- a literal world citizen with passports issued by Spain, Switzerland and Israel and whose main business was incorporated in Switzerland -- was guilty of was not paying his protection money and furthermore being so bold as to trade with a rival gang in Iran.

And this is really the most instructive moral of the many morals of the Marc Rich saga. Forget the struggle of fleeing Europe's Holocaust and losing everything in the process. Forget the hard work and determination of an immigrant family that allowed them to overcome language barriers and their immediate poverty to ultimately realize an 'American Dream' of their own. Forget the sheer talent and raw force of will necessary to forge a world commodities empire and create an entirely new way to trade oil, a new market that directly challenged the oligopoly of the Seven Sisters oil cartel.

No, Marc Rich's story is significant and telling because it reveals the true nature of government in practice, and especially government as practiced in America, where it is nothing but politics and egos that decides men's fates, and not some phony, childish striving for the "common good." It shows us that government is fundamentally anti-competitive, anti-business and anti-individual.

The crusade against Marc Rich was over the top and beyond any reasonable idea of the pursuit of justice in a free country. With rampant politicization of the process and the prosecution and defense alike, its use of the most formidable federal charges possible (RICO) and the wanton collateral damage caused to Rich's company, employees, trading partners and even world markets, it was akin to an all-out totalitarian war.
"It was phenomenal," Sandy Weinberg told me with glee. "We tied up all U.S. assets, including 20th Century Fox. We shut 'em down completely. We shut the company down for a year. They couldn't operate in the U.S. It cost them dearly. I assume it cost them probably a billion dollars." (123)
Ask yourself, what is this prosecutor gloating over? What is he gloating over besides his own pride in his personal power to destroy a man's business, business partners and reputation? What is he thrilling over but the loss of value, to many millions of people the world over, that the "billion dollars" in lost revenue represents? Rich was never charged with a crime that represented stealing from others or extorting his trading partners... all money he made, he made on the basis of voluntary, wealth-producing transactions from the viewpoint of his trading partners.

This is the stark reality of government, that it destroys wealth. That it tears society down. That it hobbles trade. And all for what? For the egos of ambitious politicians. Who benefited from Marc Rich's downfall? Not the people of the United States, and not the people of the rest of the world. But for Giuliani, it was "another feather in his cap" (123).
"U.S. Attorney Giuliani knew that the case would serve as a springboard for his political career-- a career that would lead him to become the mayor of New York and later to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. presidency. One could go so far as to say that Giuliani's political and very public career actually began with this case. As history has shown, the fact that the case escalated rapidly before virtually exploding as a media event was not exactly to Giuliani's disadvantage. In all likelihood, this escalation was even desired." (142)
Ultimately, Marc Rich ran afoul of the political process. He sought to trade around arbitrary regulations and restrictions on oil exchange established by the political Department of Energy. He maintained multiple passports and was not beholden to the ever-changing nationalistic political winds of any land or time period. He exploited tax loopholes to avoid paying as much protection money as he could, protection fees which are, again, established arbitrarily and politically by the respective governments involved on he basis of what is expedient, not what is right or necessary. And finally, he traded with unpopular foreign regimes without respect for outstanding bans and embargoes and did so without the nauseating moral hypocrisy of the politician who makes claim that he is transacting with rights-violators for the Greater Good.

No, Marc Rich only traded for profit, nothing more, nothing less, and a value that is truly non-partial and non-political.

Taylor Conant writes about economics, politics and liberty from Texas. He believes the world would be a better place if more people minded their own business.

Copyright 2009 EPJ Group LLC

4 comments:

  1. Taylor, you are a beast. Great article.

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  2. Interesting thoughts, thank you Taylor. Will buy the book.

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  3. Hello from Russia!
    Can I quote a post "No teme" in your blog with the link to you?

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  4. Great story about Marc Rich, great blog.

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