{{Short description|German-born real estate developer and venture capitalist}} '''Thomas Kramer''' (born April 27, 1957) is a German-born real estate developer and venture capitalist, noteworthy for his part in the redevelopment of South Beach, Miami, Florida. Thomas Kramer's development projects include the Apogee, the Portofino Tower, the Murano Grande, and the Yacht Club.<ref name="Haute 100">{{citation|journal=Haute Living|title=Haute 100|url=http://hauteliving.com}}</ref>
== Biography == Kramer is the son of Frankfurt stockbroker Willi Kramer. "By the age of 13 he was making waves with a rabidly right-wing student newspaper he founded." Subsequently, he attended the Salem Boarding School. Kramer claims to have made his first million marks trading stock options from a payphone while still a student at the boarding school.<ref name="TopMagazinProfile">{{cite news |url=https://www.top-magazin-frankfurt.de/business/thomas-kramer-unternehmer-netzwerker-und-stratege/ |title=Thomas Kramer: Unternehmer, Netzwerker und Stratege |publisher=Top Magazin Frankfurt |language=de |access-date=2025-12-07}}</ref><ref>Lera Gavin: [https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/thomas-kramers-south-beach-story-ends-with-200-million-court-judgment-6392215 Thomas Kramer's South Beach Story Ends With $200 Million Court Judgment] May 23, 2013</ref> Then Kramer took a brokerage apprenticeship in London and became a licensed broker. He joined his father's firm, before moving on to Shearson Lehman Brothers. He founded his own company in 1986, TK Kapitalverwaltung GmbH.<ref name="nw">{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1994-07-24/the-german-tycoon-making-waves-in-miami-beach|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130410165736/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1994-07-24/the-german-tycoon-making-waves-in-miami-beach|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2013|title=The German Tycoon Making Waves In Miami Beach|publisher=BusinessWeek|date=1994-07-24}}</ref>
In the early 1990s, Kramer purchased for $45 million large portions of South Pointe, the southern tip of South Beach, a high-crime and poverty-stricken area. The deal allowed him to consolidate his holdings in a land swap. It also cleared zoning to allow the erection of the tallest buildings south of Manhattan.<ref name="FLT">Boyd, Christopher. "Sturm und Drang, South Beach-style. (German investor-turned real estate developer Thomas Kramer)." ''Florida Trend''. 1996. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011).</ref> The whole area was turned into a premier residential area.<ref name="build">"Miami Beach, Fla., neighborhood nears point of build-out." ''Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News''. 2004. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011).</ref>
In 2000, Verena von Mitschke-Collande and Claudia Miller-Otto, heirs to the Giesecke+Devrient business, won a $90 million settlement against Kramer in a Swiss court. The plaintiffs had financed Thomas Kramer's real estate purchases in Miami, but when they intended to collect their money in 1995, Thomas Kramer tried to overturn the request and lost. When the Otto daughters launched the collect request in Florida, which included his 1.84 acres of Miami properties, Thomas Kramer transferred the majority of his assets to the Isle of Man.<ref name="lost star">{{cite web|url=https://therealdeal.com/miami/2017/08/22/thomas-kramer-loses-waterfront-star-island-homes-to-winning-40m-bid/|title=Thomas Kramer loses waterfront Star Island homes to winning $40M bid|website=Therealdeal.com|date=22 August 2017|last=Kallergis|first=Katherine|accessdate=3 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://therealdeal.com/miami/2017/08/16/thomas-kramer-is-facing-a-192m-judgment-on-star-island-mansions/|title=Thomas Kramer's Star Island mansions head to court-ordered auction|website=Therealdeal.com|date=16 August 2017|accessdate=3 October 2017}}</ref>
In 2013, Kramer signed an agreement with Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz to build the first-ever Island City in Karachi, Pakistan, the ''Bundal & Buddo Islands'', a deal worth US$20 billion.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 March 2013 |title=Bahria Town signs $20b deal |url=https://www.nation.com.pk/12-Mar-2013/bahria-town-signs-20b-deal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709144840/http://www.nation.com.pk:80/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/business/12-Mar-2013/bahria-town-signs-20b-deal |archive-date=9 July 2013 |url-status=live |work=The Nation}}</ref> The deal fell through since Kramer failed to provide the necessary funds.<ref>[http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/01/thomas_kramer_sobe_bad_boy_to.php? Thomas Kramer: Sobe Bad Boy to Declare Bankruptcy, Live off Friends], ''Miami New Times'', January 27, 2014.</ref>
Kramer was subjected to a record fine for an individual from the Federal Election Commission. He donated to political candidates as a foreign citizen. This is illegal under United States campaign finance laws. He claimed he had been unaware of the prohibition, pointing out that he is a prominent, public figure and known to be a German citizen.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gullo|first=Karen|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4403499.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610222302/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4403499.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 June 2014|title=German fined for campaign donations|publisher=Chicago Sun-Times|date=20 July 1997}}</ref><ref name="spifine">"RECORD CAMPAIGN FINE OF $323,000 IS LEVIED AGAINST GERMAN DONOR.(News)."<u>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</u>. Thomson Scientific, Inc. 1997. HighBeam Research. January 18, 2011.</ref><ref name="wpfine">"Record $323,000 Fine Levied by FEC; German Businessman Gave Illegally to Democrats and Republicans."<u>The Washington Post</u>. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Co. 1997. HighBeam Research (January 18, 2011).</ref> He turned himself in to the FEC and immediately requested the refund of all political donations. The imposed fine was agreed upon as part of a voluntary conciliation agreement with the FEC.<ref name="spifine"/><ref name="wpfine"/> Howard Glicken <ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/penniless-miami-playboy-thomas-kramer-parties-lavishly/story?id=22290263|title=Penniless}}</ref> pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from the circumstance. He admitted soliciting donations from Kramer when he knew that Kramer was not a U.S. citizen.<ref name="human">Hopkins, Kara. "Friend of Al admits raising illegal foreign money." <u>Human Events</u>. Human Events Publishing Inc. 1998. HighBeam Research. 18 January 2011</ref><ref>"GLICKEN ADMITS SOLICITING ILLEGAL DEMOCRAT DONATION.(News)."<u>''Seattle Post-Intelligencer''</u>. Thomson Scientific, Inc. 1998. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011).</ref>
In a hearing report made public in 2014, Thomas Kramer explained that he had lost all financial liability since that event.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/penniless-miami-playboy-thomas-kramer-parties-lavishly/story?id=22290263|title=Penniless Miami Playboy Thomas Kramer Parties Lavishly|website=Abcnews.go.com|date=30 January 2014|last=Farnham|first=Alan|accessdate=3 October 2017}}</ref> In August 2017, his house on Star Island was auctioned and sold for $40 million.<ref name="lost star"/>
Following the loss of his Miami properties, Kramer relocated to Dubai. According to reports from 2023, he operates a consultancy service named "Fast Lane Dubai," assisting foreign companies with incorporation and residency in the United Arab Emirates. He also acts as an intermediary for international investors and family offices.<ref name="TopMagazinDubai">{{cite news |url=https://www.top-magazin-frankfurt.de/business/thomas-kramer-fast-lane-dubai/ |title=Thomas Kramer: Fast Lane nach Dubai |publisher=Top Magazin Frankfurt |language=de |access-date=2025-12-07}}</ref>
== Other activities == Thomas Kramer appeared on the third season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and the second season of The Real Housewives of Miami.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/the-real-housewives-of-miami-episode-11-elaine-lancaster-thomas-kramer-oh-drama-6491280|title=The Real Housewives of Miami, Episode 11: Elaine Lancaster, Thomas Kramer, Oh Drama!|website=Miaminewtimes.com|date=16 November 2012|last=Russell|first=Stacey|accessdate=3 October 2017}}</ref>
== Philanthropy == Thomas Kramer created the Thomas Kramer Foundation, his main charitable vehicle.
In 1992, Thomas Kramer purchased the ''Woman in an Armchair'', painted in 1932 by Pablo Picasso, for $2.86 million, well below the expected price of $3.5 million to $4.5 million.<ref>Tully, Judd. "Auction; Heavy Casualties at Sotheby's."<u>''The Washington Post''</u>1992. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011).</ref><ref>"Museum in Texas Buys a Matisse for $11 Million". ''The New York Times''. 1992. HighBeam Research (January 18, 2011).</ref>
== Personal life == In 1989, Kramer married Catherine Burda, granddaughter of the publisher Franz Burda I, and stepdaughter of Siegfried Otto. Otto himself had married into a money-printing business and was hiding 200 million Deutschmarks in Switzerland from German tax authorities which in 1992 he signed over to Kramer.<ref name=gavin/>
Kramer stated that after his daughter, Joya, moved in with him in Miami in 2010, he significantly shifted his lifestyle to focus on fitness and health.<ref name="TopMagazinProfile"/>
Early in 1995, Kramer was arrested in Zurich after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman. Later that year, a second woman reported to Miami police that she had been raped by Kramer.<ref>{{cite news|first=Elise|last=Ackerman|title=This has been an eventful year for real estate tycoon Thomas Kramer: One multimillion-dollar land deal with the City of Miami Beach -- and two sordid stories of alleged sexual assault|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/this-has-been-an-eventful-year-for-real-estate-tycoon-thomas-kramer-one-multimillion-dollar-land-deal-with-the-city-of-miami-beach-and-two-sordid-stories-of-alleged-sexual-assault-6361832|work=Miami New Times|date=November 23, 1995|archive-date=December 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241220060134/https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/this-has-been-an-eventful-year-for-real-estate-tycoon-thomas-kramer-one-multimillion-dollar-land-deal-with-the-city-of-miami-beach-and-two-sordid-stories-of-alleged-sexual-assault-6361832}}</ref> In 1999, Kramer was charged in England with raping his secretary. In 2007, Kramer was arrested after a 13-year-old boy claimed Kramer had fondled him. Later in 2007, Kramer was sued by a woman who claimed he had grabbed her breast at a party.<ref>{{cite news|first=Lydia|last=Martin|title=Going inside Thomas Kramer’s mansion — and his mind|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article196365874.html|work=Miami Herald|date=January 24, 2018|archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230806142026/https://amp.miamiherald.com/article196365874.html}}</ref>
== See also == * Apogee * Portofino Tower * Murano Grande * Yacht Club
== Footnotes == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.thomaskramer.com Official site]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Thomas}} Category:German philanthropists Category:German stockbrokers Category:German businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:Businesspeople from Miami Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Emigrants from West Germany to the United States Category:1957 births Category:Businesspeople from Frankfurt