Edmond Safra Biography

Edmond Safra

Lebanese-born reclusive banker who founded the Republic Bank of New York — the bank that tipped off authorities to the recent Russian money-laundering scheme. Days before his death Safra, who had Parkinson's disease, completed a deal to sell his bank for $3 billion to the British bank HSBC. He died in a fire in his Monte Carlo penthouse set by one of his nurses.