Vincent Tchenguiz (born 9 October 1956) is an

Iranian-British Iranians in the United Kingdom consist of people of Iranian nationality who have settled in the United Kingdom, as well as British residents and citizens of Iranian heritage. Iranians in the United Kingdom are referred to by hyphenated terms such ...

entrepreneur born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Robert Tchenguiz Robert Tchenguiz (born 9 September 1960) is a British entrepreneur, property investor, activist shareholder and securities dealer. The younger brother of Vincent Tchenguiz, he undertook a series of corporate deals, focusing particularly on proper ...

is his younger brother. Tchenguiz is known as a major donor to the

Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. ...

and an investor in the controversial company

SCL Group SCL Group (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories) was a private British behavioural research and strategic communication company that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving its subsidiaries ...

, known for the

Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal In the 2010s, personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users was collected without their consent by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, predominantly to be used for political advertising. The data was collected through an app ca ...

involving its subsidiary.

Early life and education

Tchenguiz was born in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, to an

Iraqi-Jewish The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...

family, the son of Victor and Violet Khadouri.The Daily Telegraph: "Lisa Tchenguiz and Vivian Imerman: profiles"
22 January 2010 His family left

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in 1948 and settled in Iran, where his father, Victor Tchenguiz, a jeweler, worked for the Shah and ran the country's

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

, even though he was a foreigner and was Jewish. He also changed the family surname from Khadouri to Tchenguiz. In 1979 the family fled to England after the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. He has one brother Robert Tchenguiz and a sister Lisa Tchenguiz who divorced

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

Gary Davies Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''. As of September 2022 Gary Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturd ...

, and South African-born Del Monte CEO,

Vivian Imerman Vivian Saul Imerman (born 21 September 1955) is a South-African born businessman and former CEO of Del Monte International and Whyte and Mackay. He was nicknamed 'The Man from Del Monte.'Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Commerce and a Bachelor of Science Honours in Economics from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1978. A master's degree in business administration from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

followed two years later.

Career

Upon completion of university, Vincent Tchenguiz took employment in London with Prudential Bache as a senior vice president in their fund management division, where he traded financial instruments. In 1986, he went on to another senior vice-president position, this time trading financial instruments for

Shearson Lehman Brothers Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson Two years later, he and his brother Robert established a commercial property business, Rotch Property Group. Vincent Tchenguiz is joint managing director and joint chairman. In 2002, Vincent Tchenguiz set up Consensus Business Group, assuming the position of chairman. Consensus functions as the principal advisor to a family trust, advising on an investment portfolio of residential freeholds and commercial properties valued by Lazard in 2012 at approximately 3.0 billion pounds. Consensus also advises on other investments, including health care, clean technology, biotechnology, homeland security and holdings in funds valued at around 200 million pounds. Tchenguiz along with the Credit Mercantile Group bought an interest in

Chestertons Chestertons is a British estate agency chain. First established in 1805 by Charles Chesterton (1779 – 1849), the firm has mainly been based in London, but has expanded into international markets, including the Middle East. Chestertons has over ...

from Arqaam Capital and the Saudi Arabian Commercial Investment Corporation in 2007. In December 2008, Mercantile purchased Vincent Tchenquiz's stake, giving them full ownership of Chestertons. In 2009, Tchenguiz steered the move of Bramdean Alternatives investment trust to move to private equity following the

Bernie Madoff scandal The Madoff investment scandal was a major case of stock and securities fraud discovered in late 2008. In December of that year, Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ chairman and founder of the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securiti ...

. The fund was taken over by

Aberdeen Asset Management Aberdeen Asset Management was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the Lon ...

and rebranded Aberdeen Private Equity and run by Alex Barr. On 10 March 2011, Vincent Tchenguiz was arrested by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as part of a wider investigation into the collapse of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic bank

Kaupthing Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...

. However, he was released the same day without charge. Subsequently, on 16 March 2011 the High Court in London ruled that Vincent Tchenguiz could sue Kaupthing for damages of £1 billion ($1.6 billion). In September 2011, Kaupthing reached an out of court settlement with the Tchenguiz Family Trust in their pursuit of damages against the Icelandic bank. All details of the settlement remain confidential. On 5 December 2011, Vincent Tchenguiz and other parties in the case wrote to SFO, outlining details of allegation against the government department and seeking damages of c.£100 million. On 22 December 2011, the SFO and the Treasury Solicitors Department (TSoI) admitted factual errors in the information used to obtain the warrants against Consensus Business Group and Vincent Tchenguiz; stated that the warrants should be quashed; and that material seized under the warrants would be returned that day. Furthermore, the SFO offered to pay reasonable legal costs. Vincent Tchenguiz said, "It beggars belief that the SFO has taken so long to realise the error of their ways and I do not regard their actions … as being of their own initiative – their hand has been forced by our legal actions. Whilst I am glad that they have conceded to pay the significant legal costs incurred – the damage their actions have caused, both financial and to my reputation, are far greater. I intend to pursue them through the civil courts for damages." In December 2012, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' reported that the brothers are to seek up to £180m in damages from the SFO. On 25 July 2014, Vincent Tchenguiz agreed a settlement with the SFO for £3m in damages and £3m in legal costs and receives a full apology from SFO Director David Green who "deeply regrets the errors" made by his agency."British prosecutor to pay $1.5 million in case related to Kaupthing inquiry"
/ref> In a statement, Vincent Tchenguiz says that "it has become increasingly apparent that the SFO's investigation was influenced by certain third parties acting in their own commercial interest." Beginning in 2011,

Black Cube Black Cube (BC Strategy Ltd) is a private intelligence agency based in London, Tel Aviv and Madrid, which drew widespread condemnation for its work surveilling and assisting with efforts to slander the reputations of women accusing Harvey Weinste ...

, a private intelligence firm founded by former Israeli intelligence agents, provided intelligence services to Vincent Tchenguiz in a number of cases, including Tchenguiz’s fight against the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), following his arrest as part of the SFO investigation into the collapse of the Icelandic bank

. Black Cube analysed the network of relationships surrounding the collapse of the bank, and helped build a successful challenge to the SFO arrests and search warrants, causing the judge to declare the SFO’s actions unlawful in 2013. Following this investigation the SFO was ordered by the court to pay over £3m in damages and £3m in legal costs to Tchenguiz in 2014, and to issue a formal apology. In 2013, Black Cube filed a lawsuit in the UK against Vincent Tchenguiz for unpaid invoices and breach of contract. Concurrently, Tchenguiz filed a lawsuit in Israel against Black Cube, alleging fraudulent invoices, an allegation denied by Black Cube. Both lawsuits were dropped in a settlement agreement, the details of which are undisclosed. In January 2018, Proxima GR Properties, owned by the Tchenguiz family trust of which Tchenguiz is a beneficiary refused to replace flammable cladding, similar to the material responsible for the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

. The company insisted the leaseholders pay the £2 million cost, up to £31,300 per flat and any costs incurred in delay of payments including fire wardens and scaffolding. Tchenguis has invested more than £500,000 in Israeli defense technology company eVigilo which has cooperated with Ericsson to send warning text messages in specific areas. Tchenguiz has also been the largest shareholder of

Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intelli ...

, the company involved in 2018

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

scandal. He was an investor in the controversial company

, known for the

involving its subsidiary

Donations

Tchenguiz is known as a major donor to the

Personal life

Tchenguiz resides in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

, London, with additional homes in St Tropez and

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He maintains a 130-foot Mangusta motor yacht on the French Riviera named ''Veni Vidi Vici'',

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for " I came, I saw, I conquered." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s Robert Booth reported on 17 January 2018 that Tchenguiz purchased a new 165-foot motor yacht, the ''Da Vinci'', in 2017. The same article, headlined "Residents of tower with Grenfell-style cladding told they must foot £2m bill" reported that Tchenquiz had agreed to replace hazardous flammable cladding on his Citiscape complex in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, as soon as its low-income residents pay him £31,300 per flat in advance to cover the cost. (See Talk page; this last item may require updates and a new section of its own.)

SFO case timeline

9 March 2011 – Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz are arrested by City police and SFO investigators. The brothers both deny any wrongdoing and are released on the same day without charge 18 May 2012 – Secret negotiations are revealed that show that the SFO offered to drop their investigation into Vincent Tchenguiz in return for a £50 million donation to charity after Lord Justice Thomas accuses the SFO of acting with "sheer incompetence" 18 June 2012 – The SFO drops its investigation into Vincent Tchenguiz. In a statement, Vincent Tchenguiz said: "I have consistently explained to the SFO that they had got it completely wrong – but, as their investigation collapsed around their ears, they stubbornly maintained that they regarded me as a suspect." 31 July 2012 – The SFO search warrants for the Tchenguiz brothers are deemed "unlawful" by the High Court and the investigators are further accused of "losing key documents and overlooking financial reports" 15 October 2012 – The SFO drops its investigation into the relationship between Robert Tchenguiz and Kaupthing Bank 3 December 2012 – It is announced that Vincent Tchenguiz is to seek extensive damages against the SFO including allegations of misfeasance in public office. 6 February 2013 – Vincent Tchenguiz files his claim against the SFO including allegations of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The claim is for £200 million. 27 March 2013 – SFO is criticised for "unacceptable delays" in their response to the claim made by the Tchenguiz brothers. 26 July 2013 – Grant Thornton, the accountancy firm who provided information to the SFO ahead of the Vincent Tchenguiz's arrest, are ordered to disclose the documents shown to the investigators. 28 July 2013 – Grant Thornton are accused of "maliciously misleading" the Serious Fraud office in a series of letters which also accuse them of "criminal wrongdoing" 11 November 2013 – It is revealed in court that the SFO shredded key documents in the Tchenguiz case on the order of accountants Grant Thornton in an attempt to reduce the number of documents it was obliged to disclose. 20 February 2014 – An attempt to block the disclosure of five documents shown to the SFO by Grant Thornton ahead of the arrest of Vincent Tchenguiz is blocked by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that they are "plainly relevant" to the case. Grant Thornton Director, Mark McDonald, and Partner, Steve Akers, we ordered to pay the legal costs of the Tchenguiz brothers. 8 April 2014 – The SFO applies to the UK Treasury for emergency funding as it predicts that it could spend £18.5 million fighting the legal case brought against it by Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz. 25 July 2014 – Vincent Tchenguiz agrees settlement with the SFO and receives a full apology from SFO Director David Green who "deeply regrets the errors" made by his agency. In a statement, Vincent Tchenguiz says that "it has become increasingly apparent that the SFO's investigation was influenced by certain third parties acting in their own commercial interest." 30 July 2014 – Robert Tchenguiz settles his case with the SFO and accepts a public apology from the Director of the SFO. Vincent Tchenguiz is granted permission to hand evidence disclosed as part of the SFO investigation to criminal and civil legal teams to examine the possibility for further action against third parties"Tchenguiz wins SFO arrest review"
/ref>

References