Florida

Search suspended for oil tycoon lost at sea

Jennifer Lipman — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:59:34 +0100

The mother of a wealthy Brazilian businessman who went missing last week has applied to seize control of his fortune.

The search for Guma Aguiar, a multi-millionaire energy tycoon, has reportedly been called off, five days after he was last seen.

Mr Aguiar, a prominent donor to Jewish and Israeli causes, is the chief executive of Leor Energy and is based in Fort Lauderdale. On the morning of June 20 his private yacht washed ashore on the Florida coast. Mr Aguiar has not been seen since the previous evening.

In a further twist to the mystery over his disappearance, his mother has asked the courts to make her the temporary guardian of Aguiar's $100 million fortune. She claimed that her son, a father of four, suffers from a "severe bipolar disorder".

Court documents show Ellen Aguiar claiming that her son "may be in a delusion state or be suffering from psychosis or otherwise may have disappeared at sea".

Police investigating the case said it was too early to draw any conclusions about what had happened to him.

Millionaire Jewish businessman vanishes at sea

Josh Jackman — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:10:59 +0100

Multi-millionaire Jewish businessman Guma Aguiar has gone missing off the coast of Florida.

The Brazilian-born energy magnate went sailing at around 7.30pm on Tuesday night, but was not on his boat, the TT Zion, when it returned to shore at around 1.15am.

Police are still searching for the 35-year-old father of four, who has made philanthropic contributions to many Israeli and Jewish causes, including March of the Living and Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Aguiar also invested $5.5 million into Israeli football team Beitar Jerusalem and their basketball counterparts Hapoel Jerusalem in 2009, but has a history of mental problems.

He was involuntarily admitted into a psychiatric hospital in 2010 after displaying erratic behaviour, and last year had an emergency guardian appointed to watch over him after family members petitioned a court in Miami.

His mother Ellen has requested to become the temporary guardian of Aguiar’s $100 million fortune, declaring that her son suffers from a “severe bipolar disorder”, and that his disappearance therefore may be due to “mental derangement”.

Miami: Life is more than a beach

Jenni Frazer — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:13:21 +0100

On January 1 1927, excited fans crowded into Miami’s Coconut Grove Theatre to see The Sorrows of Satan, the new “moving picture” by D W Griffith. Eighty-five years later the film scene has mainly moved to Hollywood but the fans, some of the actors, and, yes, the Coconut Grove Theatre are all still in Miami, whose extraordinary architecture makes the city the jewel of Florida’s south coast.

Strictly speaking, Miami is most famous for its Art Deco buildings, particularly its hotels, and its Historic National District only extends between 5th and 10th Streets at its southernmost finger. But the influence extends far, with fantastic buildings in rich ice-cream pistachio greens and sugared almond pinks, or vivid turquoises with matching balconies. There is attention to detail, from stunning typography as the hotel names clamour to be noticed, to glorious interior design, with bars just dripping in 1930s glamour.

The city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance is tough and vigilant. Developers can’t simply turn up in Miami Beach and knock down a property. The HPO insists facades are rescued, original features saved, and new buildings have to be dramatic to blend effortlessly with the general gorgeousness on display elsewhere.

Given the strong Jewish involvement in the city’s hotel and leisure industry, it comes as something of a shock to learn that in the 1920s, Jews were not allowed to live north of Miami Beach’s 5th Street. Instead, in 1936 Temple Beth Israel on Washington Avenue, close to the seafront, became the first synagogue built on Miami Beach. Seven years later, a second was built next door and the pair have been renovated and restored to become the Jewish Museum of Florida, a fun destination to look up Miami Jewish history.

One of the most prolific architects in Miami was Lawrence Murray Dixon, a jazz musician, who designed several of the most iconic Art Deco hotels. They include the Victor, all lush oriental greens and golds, dating from 1937; the Raleigh, with its chocolate and cream lobby seating and a dinky but well-stocked bar; the eve-of-war-opened Hotel Marlin; the majestic 10-storey high Tides hotel; the Kent, the Senator and the Tudor, and the Ritz Plaza, which opened in 1946 as the Grossinger Beach hotel, the companion to the legendary Grossinger’s Resort in the Catskills, in New York.

The Jewish connections in Miami Beach run back and forth: for a time, the owner of the Kent and the Tides was the chief executive of Island Records, the white Jewish Jamaican Chris Blackwell. And among all this sea of Art Deco, which forms one of the most delightful evening promenade pastimes imaginable for tourists — lurching gently from Art Deco hotel to another, sipping at a Sea Breeze or a margarita as you go — is one of Dixon’s more extraordinary achievements, the South Beach glory of the Betsy Hotel.

Once managed by the Lipman family from the 1940s, when it was known as the Betsy Ross Hotel, it honoured the 18th century Philadelphia seamstress who, legend has it was asked by George Washington to sew the first American flag. True or not, Betsy Ross’s name became a byword for American patriotism and during the Second World War, when the American army brought recruits to Miami Beach for basic training, some of the lucky soldiers were put up at the Betsy.

The Betsy today is not exactly an instantly recognisable building in the Deco style. An all-white edifice at the quieter end of Ocean Drive, it was designed, apparently, to recall gracious southern plantations and the colonial style, with a two-tier columned porch and handsome window shutters. Like so many Miami Beach hotels it fell into a gentle decline until it was bought in a bankruptcy sale by entrepreneur Jonathan Plutzik, who renovated it in 2009. (He even kept the original Murray Dixon reception desk, which now sits beneath the modern version.)

A one-time whizz-kid on Wall Street, he quit in 2002 to concentrate on philanthropy. And philanthropy, and particularly arts and culture, infuses every fibre of the Betsy. It is once again a family endeavour, headed by Jonathan, his sister, Deborah Briggs, and his wife, Zimbabwe-born Lesley Goldwasser. The Plutzik siblings are the children of the Pulitzer Prize-nominee poet Hyam Plutzik, who spoke only Yiddish until he was seven, and died tragically young in 1962. Jonathan, Deborah and Lesley have turned the Betsy into an arts hub, with the spirit of the poet Hyam informing all the programmes they have put in place.

Each of the 62 rooms and suites has a small library and a poetry bookmark is placed on pillows every night. In the basement, casually next to the ATM machine, is a wall of poems submitted by professional and amateur poets alike.

This year the Betsy opened a Writer’s Room, setting aside a place for writers or artists in residence — the quid pro quo is that they present an event or art salon, showcasing their work. In May, writer Ted Merwin presided over an evening about New York Jews in the Jazz Age, complete with L’Chaim vodka and guava rugelach; the hotel walls are covered in fantastic rock archive photographs, including Jill Furmanovsky’s wonderful picture of Amy Winehouse and the photographer Robert Zuckerman’s supercool portrait of Leonard Cohen.

The Betsy has hosted two serious conferences on Holocaust literature and Lesley Goldwasser, drawing on her Zimbabwe roots, has ensured that it supports that country’s Zara Centre for AIDS Impacted Children.

In other words, this is a seriously cool place to see and be seen. During Happy Hour, khaki-uniformed staff spring to attention and open the double fronted doors as you enter. You might be en route to the Wellness Spa on the roof, with Dead Sea treatments; or just sinking into one of the way-too comfortable lobby chairs, while live jazz plays next to the bar. Either way, this is a southern belle with attitude.

GETTING THERE
STAY: The Betsy Hotel. Double from £172 per night
www.thebetsyhotel.com
FLY: For direct economy flightsfrom the UK to Miami International expect to pay between £800-£1300
British Airways:
www.britishairways.com
Virgin Atlantic:
www.virgin-atlantic.com

Artwork seized during Holocaust returned to owner's family

Zoe Winograd — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:01:41 +0100

A Baroque painting taken from its owner during the Holocaust will be returned to an American Jewish family.

The original owner of the painting, Frederico Gentili di Giuseppe, an Italian Jew living in Paris, died in France in 1940 shortly before Nazi occupation.

The 473-year-old painting, "Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by Rogue" by Girolamo Romano, was later sold by Vichy France – a sale which is being called 'illegal' by the Gentili family. The painting is one of more than 70 pieces of art sold by Vichy France in 1941.

Mr Gentili's grandchildren, now living in Tallahassee, Florida, began legal action in 1997 to retrieve the painting but at the time its final ownership had not been determined.

A major international search led to the discovery of the painting, which, in a bizarre coincidence, was on the family's doorstep, in Florida's Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science. The painting had been lent to more than 20 countries since 2007 and was on loan from a Milanese gallery as part of a 2011 temporary exhibition in Florida.

In February 2012 a US federal judge ordered the painting to be returned to the Gentili family as its rightful owners.

Jewish congresswoman backs aide over 'Jewbags' joke

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:39:44 +0100

A Jewish congresswoman who is seen as a powerful player of the Democratic Party has found herself embroiled in a scandal over a Jewish joke made by a former aide.

Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who heads the Democratic National Committee, has stated her unequivocal support for Danielle Gilbert, over a Facebook post about "Jewbags".

Alongside a picture of the LSE graduate and her friends, Ms Gilbert had posted a caption calling them "the Jew cash-money team."

Ms Gilbert, herself Jewish, made the comments six years ago, but they were circulated online earlier this month following her appointment as the DNC's Jewish outreach liaison.

Ms Wasserman Schultz said Ms Gilbert was 20 when she posted the joke and that it was merely an example of the unforeseen consequences of social media.

Ms Gilbert apologised for using the terms and said she meant "no offence".

The congresswoman, who was personally chosen by President Barack Obama to take on the DNC role last April, was elected in 2004. A mother-of-three, she was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago and has had several operations. She once worked for the National Jewish Democratic Council and was among the founders of the now-annual Jewish American Heritage Month.

Romney wins Florida despite Gingrich Holocaust survivors call

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:23:54 +0000

Mitt Romney has triumphed in the Florida primary despite a campaign attacking his treatment of Holocaust survivors.

The former Massachusetts governor achieved 46 per cent of the vote, but Florida's winner-takes-all system means he has gathered 50 more delegates ahead of summer's Republican Convention.

It emerged during the voting that his rival Newt Gingrich was highlighting Mr Romney's s opposition to state-funded kosher provision in nursing homes, which he blocked as governor in 2003.

In an automated telephone call, paid for by the Gingrich campaign, Florida voters were told: "Holocaust survivors...for the first time were forced to eat non-kosher because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher.

"Tuesday, you can end Mitt Romney's hypocrisy on religious freedom."

But Mr Romney's decision eight years ago did not appear to have damaged him in the state, where 3.4 per cent of the population is Jewish.

Mr Gingrich, who beat Mr Romney in last month's South Carolina primary, came second with 32 per cent of the vote. The conservative Christian candidate Rick Santorum walked away wuith 13 per cent, while Ron Paul, whose attacks on aid to Israel have made him unpopular with Jewish groups, took only seven per cent.

The race now moves to Nevada, the home state of Mr Gingrich's biggest financial backer, Jewish casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

Arrest in Miami Holocaust survivor tax scam

Jennifer Lipman — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:38:35 +0000

A Florida woman has appeared in court on charges of stealing the personal details of Holocaust survivors as part of a tax return scam.

Crystal Thorne, 23, was an administrator for a branch of the Holocaust Survivors Assistance Program in Miami.

The role gave her access to the details of survivors who were involved with the organisation, including their addresses, birth dates and social security numbers.

She was arrested on Saturday and accused of attempting to sell the information of 30 people for a total of £640.

Ms Thorne was caught in a police sting and detained when she took the money from an undercover agent. She explained that she had sold the information "in hopes of getting a couple of dollars".

Vigils planned for US Jew jailed in Cuba

Anna Sheinman — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:50:59 +0100

Vigils are to be held today in Washington and New York for Alan Gross, an American Jew currently imprisoned in Cuba.

The Cuban interests sections in Washington and the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York will see American Jews and members of Mr Gross's family protest against the 15 year jail sentence for crimes against the state.

The 62 year old was arrested in Havana in December 2009 while working as a contractor for a US international development programme. Charged with distributing illegal communications systems, Mr Gross claimed that he was just trying to help the island's small Jewish community connect to the internet. The 1,500 strong community did not back up his story, and he was sentenced in March this year.

Last week former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson visited Cuba in a personal capacity to attempt to negotiate Mr Gross's release. Having said he would not leave the island without speaking to the prisoner, after a few days without success, he left.

While Washington says that Havana must release Mr Gross if they want "warmer relations with the United States", the Havana Times says this is like trying "to sow hopes using the strategy of the invisible carrot". The paper says that Mr Richardson apparently made "some offers that were so ridiculous that Western diplomats still can't believe they came from the White House".

According to the Miami press, Mr Richardson proposed a prisoner swap with Rene Gonzalez, a Cuban agent due to be released next month, despite Mr Gross due to serve a further 15 years.

The Havana Times suggested there was a need for "serious offers and the will to compromise", adding "Washington simply cannot punish the island any more than it already does with its embargo."

Man indicted for murder, kidnap of Brooklyn boy

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:30:31 +0100

A medical examination into the death of a murdered Chasidic child has revealed that he was drugged by his killer.

According to New York officials, before Leiby Kletzky was smothered he was given a cocktail of a muscle relaxant, an anti-psychotic substance and pain medications.

Levi Aron was indicted on eight counts on Wednesday for the murder and for then dismembering the eight-year-old and leaving his body parts in different places.

Aron, a hardware shop worker, confessed to the crime initially, but then pleaded not guilty.

Detectives said they believed the boy was killed on July 12, around 24 hours after he was kidnapped while walking home from day camp.

His body was found early on the following morning. Aron claimed to police that he had taken the boy to a wedding party before he was killed, but Leiby's presence there has not been corroborated by guests.

Aron has undergone a psychiatric evaluation and his lawyers said he was hearing voices. But Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he would fight an insanity defence.

In Florida, the Orthodox Jewish parents of a new son named him Ezriel Leiby. They chose the name after learning of Leiby's death while they were at the hospital for the birth, and said they felt a connection.

"A Jewish child had been lost just hours before our son came into this world," they said.

How Gmail saved a stolen car

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:10:37 +0100

A Florida man is celebrating after police recovered his stolen car with a little help from Gmail.

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman told business website ZDNet that when his car was stolen, he was annoyed, but not because of the value of the vehicle.

Instead, it was the car's costly number plate, which read GMAIL, that he wanted to get back. "The car wasn't worth much - but the plate is priceless," he said.

But in a lucky twist, a policeman noticed the unusual number-plate. He stopped the driver to find out more, found out it was stolen and alerted the rightful owner.