Carlos Hank Rhon (born 1947) is a Mexican billionaire. He made his fortune from selling his financial firm Grupo Financiero Interacciones to

Banorte Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business as Banorte (''Banco Mercantil del Norte'') and as Ixe, is a Mexican banking and financial services holding company with headquarters in Monterrey and Mexico City. It is one of the four large ...

. He also owns the diversified Grupo Hermes. In 2022, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' ranked him the #1014 fortune worldwide with a net worth of $2.7 billion.

Biography

Carlos Hank Rhon is the son of politician and businessman

Carlos Hank González Carlos Hank González (August 27, 1927–August 11, 2001), nicknamed ''El Profesor'' ("The Professor"), was a Mexican politician and businessman. Originally a teacher, he was an entrepreneur who built political contacts along with businesse ...

. He graduated from the

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

. Hank Rhon was a power broker, along with his father, for Mexican president

Carlos Salinas de Gortari Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wor ...

. Starting in 1991, Hank Rhon bought shares in

Laredo National Bank The Laredo National Bank (LNB) was a Texas bank founded in 1892 headquartered in Laredo, Texas which was bought by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria. LNB had been a component in the development of business and industry along the United States-Mexic ...

, allegedly buying additional shares using his associates' names in violation of

Bank Holding Company Act The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (, ''et seq.'') is a United States Act of Congress that regulates the actions of bank holding companies. The original law (subsequently amended), specified that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors must appro ...

requirements.

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

reported in 1996 that an account at Laredo National Bank, owned by Hank Rhon, was being investigated by Mexican and U.S. officials for drug money laundering. U.S. federal law enforcement investigated Hank Rhon, as well as his father and his brother

Jorge Hank Rhon Jorge Hank Rhon (born January 28, 1956) is a Mexican businessman and owner of Mexico's largest sports betting company, ''Grupo Caliente''. He served from December 2004 to February 2007 as the president of the municipality of Tijuana. He is th ...

, from December 1997 to early 1999. In June 1999, a report called the White Tiger Report (named after a white

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inhabit ...

Jorge attempted to smuggle across the Mexican-U.S. border) leaked from the

National Drug Intelligence Center The United States National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), established in 1993, was a component of the U.S. Department of Justice and a member of the United States Intelligence Community, Intelligence Community. ThGeneral Counterdrug Intelligenc ...

, describing Hank Rhon as a money launderer and close associate of cartel lord

Amado Carrillo Fuentes Amado Carrillo Fuentes (; December 17, 1956 – July 7, 1997) was a Mexican drug lord who seized control of the Juárez Cartel after assassinating his boss Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. Amado Carrillo became known as "''El Señor de Los Cielos''" ( ...

. After lobbying by the family, then-

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

wrote a letter saying the report was neither released nor vetted properly. In December 1998, the

Federal Reserve Board The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mon ...

started an enforcement action to divest Carlos Hank Rhon from his 71% ownership of Laredo National Bank, accusing him of lying about his ownership and of improper lending. The charges were settled in 2001; as part of the settlement agreement, he agreed to pay a $40 million fine and resign as chairman and director while admitting no wrongdoing. The

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

show that on September 20, 2013, Trevor Pinchemain contacted

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and Corporate services, corporate service provider.Swiss Leaks Swiss Leaks (or SwissLeaks) is the name of a journalistic investigation, released in February 2015, of a giant tax evasion scheme allegedly operated with the knowledge and encouragement of the British multinational bank HSBC via its Swiss subs ...

investigation. According to Mexican government-published data for the first 3 months of 2020, companies led by Hank Rhon and his son, also named

, received 24 federal contracts worth 7 billion

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the Dollar sign, same sign, "$", as many currencies na ...

Personal life

His wife is the daughter of the founder of the banking group

Roberto González Barrera Roberto González Barrera (September 1, 1930 – 25 August 2012) was a Mexican businessman. He was the chairman of Gruma, the largest producer of tortillas and corn flour in the world, and of Banorte, the largest Mexican-owned private bank in Me ...

. He is the brother of

, a controversial political figure in Mexico. He resides primarily in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. His son Alex Hank is a painter and former photographer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hank Rhon, Carlos Mexican billionaires Living people 1947 births