{{Short description|Russian-born French-Israeli businessman and philanthropist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{family name hatnote|Aleksandrovich|Gaydamak|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = Arcadi Gaydamak.JPG | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age text|8 April 1952}} | birth_place = Moscow, USSR | nationality = | citizenship = | alma_mater = | occupation = businessman | spouse = Irene Chirolenikova | partner = | children = Alexander, Katia and Sonia | website = {{URL|arcadi-gaydamak.com}} }}
'''Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak''' ({{langx|he|ארקדי אלכסנדרוביץ' גאידמק}}; {{langx|ru|Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак}}; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born French-Israeli businessman, philanthropist, and President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR). In the 1990s he was awarded the French ''Ordre national du Mérite''<ref name="haaretz.com" /><ref name="Legifrance.gouv.fr" /> and the ''Ordre du Mérite agricole'' for actions taken to rescue personnel in the War in Bosnia. He holds Israeli, Canadian, French, and Russian nationalities, as well as a diplomatic passport from Angola. Gaydamak's net worth was valued between $700 million and $4 billion USD in 2007.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-21 |title=Gayadamak said to be worth USD 1 billion |newspaper=Ynetnews |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3360996,00.html |access-date=2023-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321111037/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3360996,00.html |archive-date=21 March 2023 |last1=Petersburg |first1=Ofer}}</ref>
Gaydamak invested in real estate in France and Israel, in Kazphosphate (the world's largest phosphate producer), in a gold mine and a metal processing plant in Kazakhstan, in the Russian weekly ''Moskovskiye Novosti'', in food distribution in Russia and in oil fields and granaries in Angola. In Israel, his assets included the Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem, the Beitar Jerusalem football club, 15% of Africa Israel Holdings, and 99FM radio station. His significant and rapid investments in Israel made him a celebrity in Israel during the mid-2000s, with many mentions in the local media.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-21 |title=Abramovich is latest of more than 30 Russian Jewish tycoons to move to Israel |website=The Times of Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/abramovich-is-latest-of-more-than-30-russian-tycoons-to-move-to-israel/ |access-date=2023-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321111713/https://www.timesofisrael.com/abramovich-is-latest-of-more-than-30-russian-tycoons-to-move-to-israel/ |archive-date=21 March 2023}}</ref>
==Biography== Arcadi Gaydamak was born in Moscow, the capital of the USSR. At the age of 20, he was one of the first Jews to immigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union and receive Israeli citizenship. He lived on Kibbutz Beit HaShita, and studied Hebrew at an ulpan. He said he originally intended to serve in the Israeli Army, but ended up moving to France, where he opened a translation bureau.<ref name="Gaydamak: Billionaire mystery man">{{cite news|author=Jeremy Post |url=https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/In-Jerusalem/Gaydamak-Billionaire-mystery-man |title=Gaydamak: Billionaire mystery man |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=9 December 2005 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003220351/http://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/In-Jerusalem/Gaydamak-Billionaire-mystery-man |url-status=live |archive-date=3 October 2014}}</ref>
In 1982, Gaydamak Translations opened a branch in Canada. During that period he commenced international business, in import and export. After the collapse of the USSR, he built up ties in Russia and Kazakhstan, and formed various business organizations across Europe.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Cyprus in the spotlight again - Investigation of 600 million against oligarch is investigated |url=https://en.famagusta.news/news/kypros/sto-epikentro-xana-i-kypros-dierevnatai-apati-600-ekatommyrion-se-varos-oligarchi}}</ref>
Gaydamak owns a home in Caesarea, Israel.<ref name="Gaydamak: Billionaire mystery man"/> He is married to Irene Tzirolnicova, with whom he has three children. He speaks Russian, French, and English. He also speaks Portuguese and Hebrew on a basic level.
In December 2008, Gaydamak returned to Russia, settling in Moscow.<ref>{{cite news|author=Lily Galili |title=Where will Arcadi Gaydamak make his new home? |date=21 December 2008 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/where-will-arcadi-gaydamak-make-his-new-home-1.259930 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023190242/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/where-will-arcadi-gaydamak-make-his-new-home-1.259930}}</ref> In February 2009, it was reported that he was seeking to regain his Russian citizenship, lost when he emigrated to Israel decades earlier.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gaydamak asks for Russian citizenship ahead of arms-dealing verdict |newspaper=Haaretz |date=26 February 2009 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-asks-for-russian-citizenship-ahead-of-arms-dealing-verdict-1.270993 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-date=18 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118014957/http://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-asks-for-russian-citizenship-ahead-of-arms-dealing-verdict-1.270993}}</ref>
==Political career== {{Main|Social Justice (political party)}} thumb|right|200px|Arcadi Gaydamak during a press conference, February 2007 In February 2007, seeing the social issues in Israel, Gaydamak founded a party devoted to socio-economic issues, which he named Social Justice.<ref>{{cite news|author=Lily Galili |newspaper=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-announces-formation-of-social-justice-movement-1.213559 |title=Gaydamak announces formation of 'Social Justice' movement |date=21 February 2007 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012204050/http://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-announces-formation-of-social-justice-movement-1.213559 |archive-date=12 October 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Although the organization was established as a social movement, he said it could become a political party if the circumstances warranted it. In late 2007, the party contemplated taking part in the 2008 municipal elections.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/billionaire-gaydamak-says-he-ll-run-for-mayor-of-jerusalem-1.219383 |title=Billionaire Gaydamak says he'll run for mayor of Jerusalem |newspaper=Haaretz |date=30 April 2007 |access-date=2 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013192448/http://www.haaretz.com/news/billionaire-gaydamak-says-he-ll-run-for-mayor-of-jerusalem-1.219383 |archive-date=13 October 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Gaydamak ran for mayor of Jerusalem in November 2008, but his party won no seats on the city council. During the campaign, Gaydamak courted the East Jerusalem Palestinian vote. Gaydamak approached the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, Palestinian political figures and media, and came away with a near endorsement.<ref>{{cite news|author=Lili Galili |title=East Jerusalem newspaper Al Quds backs Gaydamak for mayor |newspaper=Haaretz |date=26 October 2008 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/east-jerusalem-newspaper-al-quds-backs-gaydamak-for-mayor-1.256062 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020195031/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/east-jerusalem-newspaper-al-quds-backs-gaydamak-for-mayor-1.256062 |archive-date=20 October 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Sport clubs and media ownership== In July 2005, Gaydamak became sponsor of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team. The following month he donated $400,000 to the Israeli Arab Bnei Sakhnin football club. On the same day, Gaydamak announced the purchase of 55% of the ownership of Beitar Jerusalem, and two days later he announced the acquisition of full ownership. Gaydamak is the patron of several Jewish charities and president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR), Russia's oldest Jewish umbrella group.
In January 2006, Portsmouth F.C. was sold to his son, Alexandre Gaydamak by Milan Mandarić. Gaydamak later sold the club to Ali al-Faraj in 2009. In the summer of 2008, Gaydamak said his son Alexandre was owner of Portsmouth F.C., and it was confirmed by the Premier League.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924082203/http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0%2C%2C12306~1401503%2C00.html |publisher=Premier League |date=23 September 2008 |access-date=14 November 2014 |url=http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~1401503,00.html |archive-date=24 September 2008 |title=Premier League statement |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In March 2006, he announced having bought the French newspaper ''France Soir'' via his company ''Moscow News''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Pascale Santi|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2006/03/14/arcadi-gaydamak-annonce-avoir-rachete-france-soir_750525_3236.html|title=Arcadi Gaydamak annonce avoir racheté "France Soir"|language=fr|trans-title=Arcadi Gaydamak announces having bought back ''France Soir''|newspaper=Le Monde|date=14 March 2006|access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref> He had purchased the Russian ''Moskovskie Novosti'' newspaper in 2004, fired some senior journalists, and changed the paper's mandate to a firmly pro-government one, appointing a pro-Putin journalist as editor-in-chief.
In June 2007, Gaydamak negotiated a deal to buy the non-kosher supermarket chain Tiv Taam. It was reported that he was planning to make the stores comply with Jewish religious practice: close them on Shabbat and halt the sale of pork products.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-News/Tiv-Taam-kosher-Gaydamak-says-yes |title=Tiv Taam, kosher? Gaydamak says yes |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |author=Sharon Wrobel |date=11 June 2007 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327234925/http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-News/Tiv-Taam-kosher-Gaydamak-says-yes |url-status=live |archive-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> A few days later the deal fell through, resulting in a lawsuit.<ref name="Y">{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3414562,00.htm |title=Gaydamak, Tiv Ta'am deal falls through |work=Ynetnews |author=Tani Goldstein |date=18 June 2007 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-date=3 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003221308/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3414562%2C00.htm}}</ref>
In July 2009, Gaydamak announced his decision to give up the ownership of Beitar Jerusalem in favor of Itzik Kornfein and Guma Aguiar. Kornfein would handle buying and selling players, while Aguair would engage in financing.<ref>{{cite news |author=Asayag |first=Ofira |author-link=Ofira Asayag |date=20 July 2009 |title= |script-title=he:ארקדי גאידמק לאיציק קורנפיין: בית"ר שלך מתנה ממני |language=he |trans-title=Arcadi Gaydamak to Itzik Kornfein: Your Betar a gift from me |publisher=one.co.il |url=http://one.co.il/Article/140978.html |url-status=live |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215080909/http://one.co.il/Article/140978.html |archive-date=15 February 2012}}</ref>
==Philanthropy== [[File:אריה בר-לב 2007.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A Pashkevil appreciating Arcadi Gaydamak's contributions to Jerusalem, 2007]] Gaydamak has donated to many Israeli organizations, including Magen David Adom and Hatzolah. He also pledged $50 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel, but withdrew the offer. He ended up donating $10 million.
During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict Gaydamak constructed a tent-village on the Nitzanim beach, hosting thousands of families who fled the rocket-ridden North and had no place to go. Gaydamak's contributions totaled $15 million (about $500,000 a day). In November 2006, he funded a one-week-long vacation in Eilat for hundreds of Sderot residents who have experienced rocket attacks from Gaza.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sderot residents vie for trip to Eilat |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=16 November 2006 |url=https://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378411894&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312212511/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378411894&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-10-23 |title=Vier Tote bei israelischen Luftangriffen auf Gaza {{!}} tagesschau.de |url=http://www.tagesschau.de:80/ausland/meldung30652.html |access-date=2025-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023212647/http://www.tagesschau.de:80/ausland/meldung30652.html |archive-date=23 October 2008 }}</ref>
==Controversy== ===Angola affair=== {{Main|Angolagate}} In October 2009, Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone were convicted by a French court of organizing arms trafficking in Angola during the civil war in 1993-98 in the amount of 790 million dollars, in violation of the Lusaka Protocol.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-08-26 |title=LEXPRESS.fr - Corruption à la française - L'Express |url=http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/financement/dossier.asp?ida=425365 |access-date=2025-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826182100/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/financement/dossier.asp?ida=425365 |archive-date=26 August 2007 }}</ref> He was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. But his conviction on the arms dealing charges was overturned by the Court of Appeal in Paris on 29 April 2011. France attempted to extradite Gaydamak from Israel but Israeli law had changed in the interim.<ref name="extradition">{{cite news|author=Yossi Melman |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/1.1287168 |script-title=he:הרשעת ארקדי גאידמק - הפעם הוא לא יחזור לישראל |language=he |trans-title=Conviction of Arcadi Gaydamak - This Time He Will Not Return To Israel |newspaper=Haaretz |date=27 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003222751/http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/1.1287168 |archive-date=3 October 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=2 October 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref> Peter Storrie said that this situation helped precipitate the financial crisis at Portsmouth Football Club. The club was owned by Gaydamak's son Alexandre, and the charges against his father caused banks to withdraw overdraft privileges from the club, and to call the outstanding balances on its loans.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11674/5966191/storrie-pompey-deal-close |title=Storrie - Pompey deal close |publisher=Sky Sports |date=21 February 2010 |access-date=2 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003222625/http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11674/5966191/storrie-pompey-deal-close |archive-date=3 October 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref> In November 2015, Gaydamak began a 3-year sentence in prison.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ma'anit |first1=Chen |title=Arcadi Gaydamak begins prison term in France - Globes English |url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-arcadi-gaydamak-begins-prison-term-in-france-1001083454 |work=Globes |date=Nov 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222095410/http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-arcadi-gaydamak-begins-prison-term-in-france-1001083454 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref>
===Bank Hapoalim affair=== In October 2009, Gaydamak was indicted in the Tel Aviv District Court on suspicions of money laundering through Bank Hapoalim, together with several managers of the bank and the Italian-Israeli businessman Nahum Galmor.<ref>{{cite news|author=Ofra Edelman |date=28 October 2009 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gaydamak-to-post-another-3-5m-in-bond-for-hapoalim-money-laundering-trial-1.5274 |title=Gaydamack to post another $3.5m in bond for Hapoalim money laundering trial |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=2 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023052213/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gaydamak-to-post-another-3-5m-in-bond-for-hapoalim-money-laundering-trial-1.5274 |df=dmy }}</ref> In a plea deal, charges for laundering money were dropped and Gaydamak received a one-year suspended sentence and fine.<ref>{{cite news|author=Chen Ma'anit |url=http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000724897 |script-title=he:אושר הסדר הטיעון של גאידמק: יתרום 3 מיליון שקל למדינה |language=he |trans-title=Gaydamak plea deal approved: will contribute 3 million shekel to the state |newspaper=Globes |date=14 February 2012 |access-date=2 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=17 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217150836/http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000724897 |df=dmy }}</ref>
==Awards and recognition== Gaydamak won two citations from the French government: ''Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite''<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news |author=Yossi Melman |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-was-once-secret-french-agent-former-minister-says-1.5123 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203004435/http://www.haaretz.com/news/gaydamak-was-once-secret-french-agent-former-minister-says-1.5123 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 December 2010 |title=Gaydamak was once secret French agent, former minister says |newspaper=Haaretz |date=30 October 2009 |access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="Legifrance.gouv.fr">{{cite web |url=http://legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000193235 |title=Ordre National du Merite Décret du 13 mai 1996 portant promotion et nomination |language=fr |trans-title=National Order of Merit Decree of 13 May 1996 on the promotion and appointment |publisher=Legifrance |access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref> and the ''Ordre du Mérite agricole'' for helping to rescue two captured French pilots in the War in Bosnia in the 1990s, as well as two French intelligence officers captured by rebel factions in the Caucasus. Because these operations were secret, the citations referred to his contribution to agriculture. Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua confirmed this, saying that President Jacques Chirac had personally authorized the citations.<ref name="haaretz.com"/>
==See also== *Alexandre Gaydamak * Lev Avnerovich Leviev *History of the Jews in Angola
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Arcadi Gaydamak}} {{Privatization in Russia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaydamak, Arcadi}} Category:1952 births Category:Arms traders Category:Beitar Jerusalem F.C. Category:Canadian billionaires Category:Canadian investors Category:Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Category:Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Canadian soccer chairmen and investors Category:French billionaires Category:French chief executives Category:French football chairmen and investors Category:French investors Category:21st-century French newspaper publishers (people) Category:French people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:21st-century French philanthropists Category:Israeli billionaires Category:Israeli chief executives Category:Israeli emigrants to Canada Category:Israeli emigrants to France Category:Israeli football chairmen and investors Category:Israeli investors Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Israeli philanthropists Category:Israeli publishers (people) Category:Canadian Jews Category:Canadian philanthropists Category:Living people Category:Knights of the Order of Agricultural Merit Category:Mitterrand–Pasqua affair Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada Category:Naturalized citizens of France Category:Naturalized citizens of Israel Category:Recipients of the Order of Agricultural Merit Category:Russian chief executives Category:Russian football chairmen and investors Category:Soviet emigrants to Israel Category:Soviet Jews Category:Portsmouth F.C. directors and chairmen Category:Jewish Angolan history Category:Russian businesspeople in Canada Category:Russian businesspeople in Israel Category:Russian businesspeople in France