{{short description|Australian businessman (born 1976)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Lex Greensill | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alexander David Greensill | birth_date = 29 December 1976 | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Alexander David "Lex" Greensill''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (born 29 December 1976<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/VJYQER4ZiT34c8pRykTK7ObPEzM/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Alexander David GREE |access-date=2022-10-17}}</ref>) is an Australian former businessman best known for being the founder of Greensill Capital, a company focused on supply chain finance and derivative financial products that on 8 March 2021 filed for insolvency protection<ref name="WSJ03082021">{{cite news |last1=Steinberg |first1=Julie |last2=Mavin |first2=Duncan |last3=Kowsmann |first3=Patricia |title=Greensill Capital Tumbles Into Insolvency, Spreading Financial Pain |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/greensill-capital-tumbles-into-insolvency-spreading-financial-pain-11615216346 |access-date=8 March 2021 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=8 March 2021}}</ref> and faced legal scrutiny.
== Biography ==
Greensill was born in Bundaberg, a city in Queensland, in 1976,<ref name=auto>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Robert |last2=Pooler |first2=Michael |last3=Storbeck |first3=Olaf |title=The unravelling of Lex Greensill: a mix of bravado and financial alchemy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/7e79117f-cbf5-4765-82ca-7e8f1fb5915b |access-date=11 April 2021 |work=Financial Times |date=5 March 2021}}</ref> to parents who owned a sugarcane and melon farm.<ref name="unravelling">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/lex-greensill-s-rags-to-riches-story-is-unravelling-fast-8s6twz5gn|title=Lex Greensill's rags-to-riches story is unravelling|work=The Times|last1=Duke|first1=Simon|last2=Clarence-Smith|first2=Louisa|date=2 March 2021|access-date=5 April 2021}}</ref>
Before becoming a banker, he was a sugarcane farmer and was expected to enter his family's farming business.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://outline.com/v9jCcP|title=Who is Lex Greensill? The billionaire banker tied to GAM's crisis|website=outline.com|date=7 May 2019|last=Mavin|first=Duncan}}</ref> This began to change when he arrived in Britain in 2001. After four years he joined the American bank Morgan Stanley, and then Citigroup.<ref name="story">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/david-cameron-and-the-toxic-banker-lex-greensill-the-exclusive-inside-story-sx09g098s |title=David Cameron and the toxic banker Lex Greensill: the exclusive inside story |work=The Sunday Times |last1=Pogrund |first1=Gabriel |author-link1=Gabriel Pogrund |last2=Collingridge |first2=John |date=27 March 2021 |access-date=5 April 2021}}</ref>
He founded Greensill Capital in November 2011,<ref name="story"/> which was based in London.<ref name="auto"/>
Early in his career, he served as a senior advisor to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, with an office based in 10 Downing Street.<ref name="auto"/> He also claimed he was adviser to Barack Obama, after introduction by David Cameron.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrund |first=Gabriel |title=Greensill claimed he was adviser to Obama after Cameron introduced them |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/greensill-claimed-he-was-adviser-to-obama-after-cameron-introduced-them-j75hzlcgx |access-date=2023-03-25 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-07-11 |title=How the son of Bundaberg farmer became a billionaire and lost his fortune in scandal |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-12/lex-greensill-capital-investigation-four-corners/100279294 |access-date=2023-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Eshe |last2=Ewing |first2=Jack |last3=Alderman |first3=Liz |date=2021-03-28 |title=The Swift Collapse of a Company Built on Debt |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/28/business/greensill-capital-collapse.html |access-date=2023-03-25 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Demise of Greensill Capital == {{See also|Greensill Capital|Greensill scandal}} In the early months of 2021 Greensill Capital was on the verge of bankruptcy. Several criminal complaints were filed against the German subsidiary of Greensill Capital.<ref name="auto"/> The subsidiary, ''Greensill Bank AG'', in Bremen was closed by Germany's financial regulatory authority on 3 March 2021. It has been reported in several media outlets that over half of Greensill's business came from bundling and reselling accounts receivable of Sanjeev Gupta's steel business, and that this is the cause of the company's insolvency problems.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why 5,000 jobs depend on Gupta, Greensill and the government|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-5000-jobs-depend-on-gupta-greensill-and-the-government/ar-BB1eOOHf?ocid=uxbndlbing|access-date=28 March 2021|website=msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=How Sanjeev Gupta lived large on the back of rickety financing|url=https://www.ft.com/content/8d5956d2-33e0-4ab0-a6d9-76cf63929bd9|access-date=28 March 2021|work=Financial Times|date=19 March 2021}}</ref>
== Awards ==
At the 2017 Birthday Honours of Elizabeth II, he was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by Prince Charles,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lex Greensill made a commander of the British Empire|url=https://www.greensill.com/news/lex-greensill-made-a-commander-of-the-british-empire/|website=greensill.com|url-status=dead|access-date=7 March 2021|archive-date=19 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119172132/https://www.greensill.com/news/lex-greensill-made-a-commander-of-the-british-empire/}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> for services to business.<ref name="unravelling"/>
== Wealth == Greensill was a billionaire and owned several private jets.{{cn|date=October 2023}} He also frequently networked with the top echelons of the British establishment, including people like the former UK prime minister David Cameron and Neil Garrod, the chief treasurer of Vodafone.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-05/lex-greensill-exits-billionaire-ranks-as-his-empire-unravels|title=Lex Greensill Exits Billionaire Ranks as His Empire Unravels|date=5 March 2021|work=Bloomberg|last=Stupples|first=Benjamin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/vodafone-treasurer-neil-garrod-joins-controversial-banker-greensill-fbbzhpmkt|title=Vodafone treasurer Neil Garrod joins controversial banker Greensill|first=John|last=Collingridge|work=The Sunday Times|date=30 June 2019}}</ref>
Due to the legal scrutiny and financial difficulty faced by Greensill's firm in early 2021, Greensill is no longer a billionaire. Stemming from the collapse of the firm, he faces several lawsuits.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Makortoff |first1=Kalyeena |last2=correspondent |first2=Kalyeena Makortoff Banking |date=2021-04-26 |title=Greensill made scramble for cash months before collapse, US court filings claim |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/26/greensill-made-scramble-for-cash-months-before-collapse-us-court-filings-claim |access-date=2023-03-25 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-27 |title=Revealed: Lex Greensill accused of fraud |url=https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/revealed-lex-greensill-accused-of-fraud-20220526-p5aonh |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}</ref> Greensill and his family sold several million dollars' worth of shares in the company in 2019, more than two years before it collapsed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Massoudi |first1=Arash |last2=Smith |first2=Robert |last3=Morris |first3=Stephen |title=Greensill family cashed out $200m before collapse |url=https://www.ft.com/content/40d3ab62-cfff-4275-b6c1-3f1353b8e933 |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Financial Times}}</ref> Despite having made the ''Financial Review'' 2020 Rich List, Greensill did not reach the threshold for inclusion on the 2021 Rich List.<ref name="afr2021">{{cite news |author1=Bailey, Michael |author2=Sprague, Julie-anne |url=https://www.afr.com/rich-list/australia-s-10-richest-people-revealed-20210526-p57vfr |title=The 200 richest people in Australia revealed |work=Australian Financial Review |date=27 May 2021 |access-date=28 May 2021}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{official|https://www.greensill.com}} * [https://www.greensill-bank.com/en/home/ Greensill Bank AG Bremen]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greensill, Lex}} Category:Australian businesspeople Category:Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:1976 births Category:People from Bundaberg Category:Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Living people