David Graiver
Encyclopedia
David Graiver was an Argentine businessman and banker whose business interests would become the focus of investigations and intrigue during his short life, as well as since his death.
to Eva Gitnacht and Juan Graiver, Polish Jewish immigrants who arrived in Argentina in 1931. The family later settled in La Plata
, and established a successful realty. David Graiver enrolled at the University of La Plata Law School. He did not graduate, however, and with his family's support, purchased the Banco Comercial de La Plata in 1967. He married Susana Rottemberg, and the couple had a daughter, María Sol, in 1974; they were separated shortly afterward, however, and Graiver married Lidia Papaleo, the daughter of a prominent Greek Argentine family.
Graiver's ownership of the Banco Comercial de La Plata allowed him to enter into a variety of business interests. He established the Fundar and Construir real estate development
firms, and in 1969, announced plans to build Bristol Center, a Mar del Plata
development projected to include over 1200 condominium
s in three high-rises overlooking a convention center
and entertainment complex. He then entered public service as Undersecretary of Social Welfare for Minister Francisco Manrique
during the presidency of General Alejandro Lanusse, and served as policy advisor to Economy Minister José Ber Gelbard
following elections in 1973
. He purchased a 26% stake in Papel Prensa
, the first manufacturer of newsprint
in Argentina, in December 1973 (the state purchased the remainder).
guerrilla group. He reportedly laundered
US$17 million in funds that the Montoneros had received from illicit activities, principally kidnapping
. These investments included a variety of interests in both Argentina and overseas, and by 1976, Graiver owned a significant stake in Jacobo Timerman
's La Opinión
(one of the leading newspapers and the leading magazine publisher in Argentina), the Galerías da Vinci retailer, as well as banks in Argentina (Comercial de La Plata and the Bank of Hurlingham
), New York
(American Bank and Trust and Century National Bank), Brussels
(Banque pour l’Amérique du Sud), and Tel Aviv
(Swiss-Israel Bank). These and other assets amounted to around US$ 200 million by then, and the Israel
i intelligence service, Mossad
, considered Graiver one of the three leading Jewish banking figures in Latin America (with José Klein, in Chile
, and Edmond Safra
, in Brazil
).
Graiver's younger brother, Isidoro, was kidnapped for ransom, and following a second attempt, Graiver fled to New York
in 1975, where he rented an Olympic Tower office and administered his diverse interests. Debts of US$67 million, however, prompted Graiver to transfer around US$45 million in loans from American Bank & Trust to his Brussels bank, which then made large loans to Graiver-controlled businesses. Maintaining a second home in Acapulco, Mexico, to facilitate tax evasion
, Graiver reportedly died in a plane crash nearby on August 7, 1976.
district attorney
Robert Morgenthau remained skeptical that he was actually in the airplane, however, as the incident was never investigated nor the flight recorder
ever found, and in 1978, his office issued an indictment
against Graiver for embezzlement
related to the September 15, 1976, failure of American Bank & Trust. The fourth largest bank failure in American history at the time, Graiver's banks in Argentina and elsewhere also failed. New York State Supreme Court Judge Arnold Fraiman ruled on January 15, 1979, that Graiver was dead, although the judge expressed some reservations.
Following Graiver's 1976 death, his widow returned to Argentina on September 16. Facing debts as well as ongoing death threats, Papaleo was enjoined by the newly-installed dictatorship
's Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
, to sell her family's stake in Papel Prensa. The Graiver family's stake, by then, had been partly sold to Rafael Iannover, and the Graivers retained 11%, or about US$1 million. The federal prosecutor appointed to the case, Julio César Strassera
, also uncovered coercion from the Montoneros, who sought to recover the US$17 million investment managed by Graiver. A military tribunal sentenced her, Isidoro and Juan Graiver to 15 years' imprisonment, though an appeals court later cleared the defendants of all charges.
Papaleo and the other private partners negotiated the sale of their shares on November 2 with the three most important Argentine newspaper publishers at the time (Clarín
, La Nación
, and La Razón
). Papaleo, however, had collected but U$S 7,000 when, on March 14, 1977, she was illegally detained by Buenos Aires Province Police Chief Detective Miguel Etchecolatz
and the Commissioner, Ramón Camps
.
Amid a series of political controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
, Papaleo testified in 2010 to having been personally threatened by Clarín executive Héctor Magnetto
during the sale, and subsequently tortured by the police to forfeit further payment, as well as her remaining shares in La Opinión. She later recanted her testimony, affirming simply that she had been pressured to sell her shares, though never under duress.
The uncompleted Bristol Center and other Graiver family properties in Argentina were expropriated by Conarepa, the state entity formed to liquidate assets seized from political opponents. The private shareholders of Papel Prensa, including Graiver's widow, were indemnified by President Raúl Alfonsín
's administration in 1985.
Early life and career
Graiver was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
to Eva Gitnacht and Juan Graiver, Polish Jewish immigrants who arrived in Argentina in 1931. The family later settled in La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, and established a successful realty. David Graiver enrolled at the University of La Plata Law School. He did not graduate, however, and with his family's support, purchased the Banco Comercial de La Plata in 1967. He married Susana Rottemberg, and the couple had a daughter, María Sol, in 1974; they were separated shortly afterward, however, and Graiver married Lidia Papaleo, the daughter of a prominent Greek Argentine family.
Graiver's ownership of the Banco Comercial de La Plata allowed him to enter into a variety of business interests. He established the Fundar and Construir real estate development
Real estate development
Real estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...
firms, and in 1969, announced plans to build Bristol Center, a Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
development projected to include over 1200 condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s in three high-rises overlooking a convention center
Convention center
A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...
and entertainment complex. He then entered public service as Undersecretary of Social Welfare for Minister Francisco Manrique
Francisco Manrique
Francisco Manrique was an Argentine naval officer, journalist, policy maker and presidential candidate.-Life and times:...
during the presidency of General Alejandro Lanusse, and served as policy advisor to Economy Minister José Ber Gelbard
José Ber Gelbard
José Ber Gelbard was an Argentine activist and politician.-Career:Gelbard was born in Radomsko, Poland, in 1917. In 1930 Gelbard emigrated to Argentina with his parents and siblings. They settled in Tucumán, north of Buenos Aires. Those were tough times and Gelbard had to make a living as a...
following elections in 1973
Argentine general election, March 1973
The first Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 11 March. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.5%, it produced the following results:-President:...
. He purchased a 26% stake in Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa is the largest Argentine manufacturer of newsprint, furnishing 75% of the local market in the staple. The public–private partnership became the focus of one of a series of controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism in 2010.-Establishment:Papel Prensa originated in the establishment...
, the first manufacturer of newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
in Argentina, in December 1973 (the state purchased the remainder).
The Montoneros' banker
Secretly, however, Graiver became the investment banker for the MontonerosMontoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
guerrilla group. He reportedly laundered
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
US$17 million in funds that the Montoneros had received from illicit activities, principally kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
. These investments included a variety of interests in both Argentina and overseas, and by 1976, Graiver owned a significant stake in Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman was an Argentine publisher, journalist, and author who was persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War...
's La Opinión
La Opinión (Argentina)
La Opinión was an Argentine newspaper, founded by the journalist Jacobo Timerman in 1971. Its ideology was broadly centrist, inspired partly by the Paris daily Le Monde.-Development:...
(one of the leading newspapers and the leading magazine publisher in Argentina), the Galerías da Vinci retailer, as well as banks in Argentina (Comercial de La Plata and the Bank of Hurlingham
Hurlingham, Buenos Aires
Hurlingham is a city in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It forms part of the Gran Buenos Aires metropolitan area and is situated 23 km west of the city centre...
), New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(American Bank and Trust and Century National Bank), Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
(Banque pour l’Amérique du Sud), and Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
(Swiss-Israel Bank). These and other assets amounted to around US$ 200 million by then, and the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i intelligence service, Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
, considered Graiver one of the three leading Jewish banking figures in Latin America (with José Klein, in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and Edmond Safra
Edmond Safra
Edmond J. Safra was a Jewish Brazilian-naturalized, Lebanese banker who continued the family tradition of banking in Lebanon, Brazil and Switzerland. He married Lily Watkins. He died in a fire that attracted wide media interest and was judicially determined to be due to arson.-Life of Edmond...
, in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
).
Graiver's younger brother, Isidoro, was kidnapped for ransom, and following a second attempt, Graiver fled to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1975, where he rented an Olympic Tower office and administered his diverse interests. Debts of US$67 million, however, prompted Graiver to transfer around US$45 million in loans from American Bank & Trust to his Brussels bank, which then made large loans to Graiver-controlled businesses. Maintaining a second home in Acapulco, Mexico, to facilitate tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
, Graiver reportedly died in a plane crash nearby on August 7, 1976.
Posthumous controversies
ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
Robert Morgenthau remained skeptical that he was actually in the airplane, however, as the incident was never investigated nor the flight recorder
Flight recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of an aircraft accident or incident. For this reason, flight recorders are required to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft...
ever found, and in 1978, his office issued an indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
against Graiver for embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
related to the September 15, 1976, failure of American Bank & Trust. The fourth largest bank failure in American history at the time, Graiver's banks in Argentina and elsewhere also failed. New York State Supreme Court Judge Arnold Fraiman ruled on January 15, 1979, that Graiver was dead, although the judge expressed some reservations.
Following Graiver's 1976 death, his widow returned to Argentina on September 16. Facing debts as well as ongoing death threats, Papaleo was enjoined by the newly-installed dictatorship
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
's Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz was an Argentine executive and policy maker. He served as Minister of the Economy under de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy during the self-styled National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early...
, to sell her family's stake in Papel Prensa. The Graiver family's stake, by then, had been partly sold to Rafael Iannover, and the Graivers retained 11%, or about US$1 million. The federal prosecutor appointed to the case, Julio César Strassera
Julio César Strassera
Julio César Strassera is an Argentine lawyer and jurist. He served as Chief Prosecutor during the historic 1985 Trial of the Juntas.-Early life:...
, also uncovered coercion from the Montoneros, who sought to recover the US$17 million investment managed by Graiver. A military tribunal sentenced her, Isidoro and Juan Graiver to 15 years' imprisonment, though an appeals court later cleared the defendants of all charges.
Papaleo and the other private partners negotiated the sale of their shares on November 2 with the three most important Argentine newspaper publishers at the time (Clarín
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
, La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
, and La Razón
La Razón (Buenos Aires)
La Razón is a local newspaper distributed in the public transportation system in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was founded in 1905 by Argentine journalist Emilio Morales an as an afternoon and evening newspaper in broadsheet format. The daily was acquired by a prominent news editor, José A...
). Papaleo, however, had collected but U$S 7,000 when, on March 14, 1977, she was illegally detained by Buenos Aires Province Police Chief Detective Miguel Etchecolatz
Miguel Etchecolatz
Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz is a former senior Argentine police officer, who worked in the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the first years of the military dictatorship. Etchecolatz was an active participant in the "anti-subversion operation" known as the National Reorganization Process...
and the Commissioner, Ramón Camps
Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Camps was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process...
.
Amid a series of political controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
Controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
The Argentine media corporation Grupo Clarín and the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner have been involved in a number of controversies since 2008...
, Papaleo testified in 2010 to having been personally threatened by Clarín executive Héctor Magnetto
Héctor Magnetto
Héctor Horacio Magnetto is an Argentine executive associated with the Clarín Group, the country's largest media company.-Life and career:...
during the sale, and subsequently tortured by the police to forfeit further payment, as well as her remaining shares in La Opinión. She later recanted her testimony, affirming simply that she had been pressured to sell her shares, though never under duress.
The uncompleted Bristol Center and other Graiver family properties in Argentina were expropriated by Conarepa, the state entity formed to liquidate assets seized from political opponents. The private shareholders of Papel Prensa, including Graiver's widow, were indemnified by President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
's administration in 1985.