{{short description|Lebanese businessman|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = Salah Ezzedine | native_name = صلاح عز الدين | native_name_lang = ar | image = | image_upright = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1962}} | birth_place = South Lebanon | education = | occupation = Businessman | years_active = | known_for = Arrested for running a pyramid scheme | criminal_charges = <!-- criminality parameters should be supported with citations from reliable sources --> | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = | children = | relatives = }} '''Salah Ezzedine''' (born in 1962<ref>[http://www.liberation.fr/economie/0101590781-salah-ezzedine-le-madoff-libanais ''Liberation'': Salah Ezzedine, le «madoff» libanais] (in French)</ref> in South Lebanon) is a Lebanese businessman who is accused and arrested for running a pyramid scheme. He had supposedly investments in oil, publishing, metals and television, and his businesses spread out from the Gulf to Africa.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090922174236/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1924186,00.html Andrew Lee Butters in ''Time'' magazine: Lebanon's Bernie Madoff - A Scandal Taints Hizballah]</ref>
==Career== Before the fraud scandal occurred, he was known for his generosity and had built a stadium and largely financed a mosque for his hometown of Maaroub, Lebanon.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Lebanon's Bernie Madoff: A Scandal Taints Hizballah|magazine=Time|date=16 September 2009 |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1924186,00.html|accessdate=21 November 2016}}</ref><ref name=nbc/> He was known as the owner of Dar el-Hadi, a publishing house that published books on Hezbollah and on religious themes based in the Shiite neighborhood of Dahieh, a stronghold of Hezbollah, and Al Mustathmir, a money management financial institution.<ref>[https://khazen.org/ezzedine-is-accused-of-embezzlement-media-dub-case-the-nations-madoff/ "A prominent Lebanese businessman was charged over the weekend,"] ''Khazen''.</ref>
=== Fraud === Ezzedine's close ties to Hezbollah led many Lebanese Shiite investors to invest with him, even though he did not show them any paperwork.<ref name=nyt/><ref>[https://www.france24.com/en/20090909-salah-ezzedine-lebanese-madoff- "Salah Ezzedine, the Lebanese 'Madoff' ?,"] ''France 24''.</ref> He named two of his businesses after the son of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.<ref>[https://macleans.ca/news/world/hezbollah-embarrassed-by-fraudster/ "Hezbollah embarrassed by fraudster,"] ''Maclean's''.</ref> Hundreds of Lebanese sold land or took money out of their retirement savings, joined by well-off investors, to invest hundreds of millions of dollars with him, as he promised annual returns of as much as 80%.<ref name=nbc>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32974559 |title=Mideast 'Madoff' scandal shames Hezbollah |publisher=NBC News |date=September 23, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.executive-magazine.com/feature/the-mediterranean-madoff |title=The Mediterranean Madoff - Hundreds of millions of dollars disappear in the Salah Ezzedine scandal |date=October 2, 2009 |publisher=Executive Magazine }}.</ref>
In the ensuing debacle, financial downfall and declaring of his bankruptcy, Lebanese investors, mostly from the Shia community, lost hundreds of million dollars. Amounts involved vary between $700 million to 1.2 billion dollars was lost by Lebanese investors<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/world/middleeast/16lebanon.html?scp=1&sq=ezzedine&st=cse Billion-Dollar Pyramid Scheme Rivets Lebanon]</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/lebanons-madoff-bankrupted-after-bouncing-200000-cheque-to-hizbollah-1783407.html Robert Fisk in ''The Independent'': 'Lebanon's Madoff' bankrupted after bouncing $200,000 cheque to Hizbollah"]</ref> Hezbollah security officers arrested Ezzedine on his way to the airport as he attempted to flee and made him transfer his remaining assets to Hezbollah before they turned him over to the Lebanese authorities.<ref>[https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/legal-documents/ACLURM045462.pdf "On Iranian Influence in Africa The Role of the Lebanese Shiite Community in West Africa and Hezbollah Worldwide Activities,"] ''ACLU''.</ref> Bankers said it was the largest fraud of its kind that Lebanon had ever seen.<ref name=nyt/>
Ezzedine was charged with fraud and fraudulent embezzlement, a crime punishable by 15 years in prison, distributing invalid checks, and violating Lebanese fiscal laws in September 2009, and was jailed.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/world/middleeast/16lebanon.html "Billion-Dollar Pyramid Scheme Rivets Lebanon,"] ''The New York Times''.</ref><ref name=nbc/><ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125289091661807629 "Prosecutors Charge Lebanese Financier,"] ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezzedine, Salah}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Confidence tricksters Category:Financial company founders Category:Financial scandals Category:Lebanese Shia Muslims Category:Money managers Category:People from Tyre District Category:Pyramid and Ponzi schemes Category:21st-century Lebanese businesspeople