alvin malnik wiki

Alvin "Al" Ira Malnik (born May 23, 1932 in St. Louis , Missouri ) is an American lawyer and millionaire businessman and entrepreneur in Miami . He became known through his work for the mobster Meyer Lansky and as a consultant to the pop star Michael Jackson . He was also the founder of the legendary "Forge Restaurant" opened in South Beach in 1968.

Early Years
Malnik is the son of a Jewish immigrant family from Russia . [1] He grew up in a working class neighborhood of St. Louis, where he led the Clark Elementary School and the Soldan High School attended. In 1950 he received his high school diploma.

He studied at Washington University and spent two years studying the ROTC program in El Paso, Texas . In 1954 he received a Bachelor of Arts , then served until 1956 in the US Army , which he left as Captain of the Reserve, and then completed a law degree at the University of Miami School of Law .

In 1959 he opened his office on Lincoln Road in Miami . Together with his friend Jay Weiss , he developed the area around South Beach into an attractive location. He himself opened his legendary "Forge Restaurant" there in 1968. He has also been involved in the Sky Lake County Club , California Club , Bandsmart Building , Club 41 and Cricket Club projects. [1]

Malnik acquired the rights to distribute the Scopitone music machines, in principle a development of the Musicbox with film clips and thus precursors of modern music videos , which came from the mid-1960s from the UK, had also arrived in New York City. Main partner in this business was Maurice Uchitel ; who in particular from 1964 to 1970 owner of the famous nightclub "El Morocco" was. By reselling the rights Malnik became a millionaire.

Malnik spent ten years in the finance and real estate industry, without being involved in any scandals or bankruptcies. In April 1969, he was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion . [2] Malnik, who was immediately released free, but years had to live with a floating in principle. It was only in 1985 that the allegations were finally withdrawn and the procedure initiated by the IRS in 1962 ended. [3]

Meyer Lansky
Malnik also worked for Meyer Lansky after entering into business relationships with Al Mones in the late 1950s , who can be considered an associate of Lansky.

"What a known fact among the criminal underworld dealing with Al Malnik What the same as dealing with Meyer Lansky ..."

"It was a well-known fact in the criminal underworld that business with Malnik was business with Meyer Lansky ..."

- Vincent Teresa - Testimony to Investigators of the New Jersey Gambling Commission.
Lansky controlled in particular together with Santo Trafficante the gambling and drug trafficking in Florida and Cuba . After the success of the Cuban Revolution Lansky moved from 1959, his activities in the Bahamas .

Malnik became known to a wider public for the first time in the early 1960s, as its gambling build on Paradise Island, Bahamas , was noted. He also worked in banking and real estate in Miami , where he served as Meyer Lansky's frontman in collaboration with Sam Cohen , a chairman of the Miami National Bank , another associate of Lansky.

In 1962, Malnik was listed as director of the Bank of World Commerce in Nassau , Bahamas, which was used by numerous well-known gangster figures. Apparently Malnik's job was to legalize Lansky's business.

Malnik and Cohen operated with their companies "COMAL" and "Cove Associates" in the early 1970s speculation with land purchases in Florida and the Poconos . Funding was provided by Caesars World and the Central States Pension Fund ; Pension fund of the union of transport workers " Teamsters ". For example, in 1971 Malnik and Cohen acquired a 325 acre site on which a Dade County Country Club was built. On sale, they made a profit of $ 14.7 million.

When the FBI against the Detroit Mafia because of their involvement in the casinos of Las Vegas determined and Jack Tocco had come to the attention of investigators, operational Malnik 1977 the sale of the shares in the casino Aladdin .

In 1980, Malnik was banned from accessing the casinos by the Gaming Commission in New Jersey for his criminal contacts, particularly with Lansky and Cohen. [4]

Only Sam Cohen is associated with a sum of 30 million US dollars, skimmed from the casino of the flamingo (American "skimming"). So Cohen was one of the group of people whose visit was registered during Lansky's stay in Israel in the early 1970s by the Israeli authorities. These old criminal contacts eventually led to the expulsion of Lansky in 1973 from Israel.
The decision of the Gaming Commission was renewed on September 8, 1993, when two casinos - the Caesars and the Taj Mahal - were disciplined in Atlantic City , as they had granted entry to Malnik. [5]

"He is not welcome here."

"He is not welcome here."

- James Hurley, Chairman of the New Jersey "Casino Control Commission".
After Lansky's death in 1983, Reader's Digest called Malnik his heir apparent. Malnik denies the close contacts with Lansky. In a newspaper interview in 1999, he stated that he had met Lansky only once in person and only legally represented him several times. [5]

"Contrary to popular belief, I never worked for Meyer Lansky. I knew him, and he was a good friend who I spent a lot of time with, but I never represented him in legal matters. To me, Meyer something quite grandfather type. If you knew him and talked to him, you could never imagine any of them. You could never imagine that he was responsible for doing that. He was not a person to give in surprise. "

"Contrary to what the public believes, I (Al Malnik) never worked for Meyer Lansky. I knew him, he was a good friend with whom I spent a lot of time, but never in my legal affairs. For me, Meyer was the quiet grandfather type. If you knew him, you could not imagine that the stories you had heard about him were true. You could not imagine that he should have done the things that people said he did. He was not a person who got angry. "

- Al Malnik [6]
In 1982, shortly before the death of Lansky, the canary-yellow Rolls-Royce had been blown up by Malnik in the underground garage of his cricket club , which he had projected with him. Cal Coves, his partner in the project, was sent to jail for three years, for alleged involvement in corrupt union leader Jimmy Hoffa . Nobody was hurt by the bombing, but no one could be held responsible. [7] A good friend of Malnik - Don Aronow - was shot dead on February 3, 1987, sitting in his car at NE 188th Street in Miami. [3] [8]

Saudi royal house
In 1980, Malnik helped Mohammed Al-Fassi to sell his villa in Beverly Hills , which he bought in 1978 for $ 2.4 million. Al Fassi was the brother of Hind Al-Fassi, who was married to the Saudi Arabian Prince Turki ibn Abd al-Aziz . Al Fassi had not only aroused the displeasure of the neighbors, because he painted the villa pea green, but also because he painted the Italian statues on the estate flesh-colored, whereby the genitals were clearly brought to bear.

In April 1980, Malnik had met with members of the Saudi Arabian royal family. For a period of four years he became the financial advisor to Mohammed Al-Fassi and Turki Bin-Azis Al-Saud.

Son Mark Malnik, who was born in 1958, organized his wedding with Sheika Hoda Al-Fassi in Miami at that time . By December 1980, then all were on a joint trip around the world. After completing his studies in 1982, the marriage took place between Mark Malnik and Hoda Al-Fassi. Mark Malnik changed his name to Shareef Malnik.

In March 1982, Malnik and his son went to Saudi Arabia and rumors started that Malnik would convert to Islam and also change his name. However, the Al-Fassi-Turki clan in Saudi Arabia is losing in influence: Mohammed Al-Fassi, who had returned to the Middle East , ended up in jail for three years in the 1990s, publicly broadcasting the Saudi royal family in radio interviews Had criticized Baghdad . [9] He was expelled from Saudi Arabia and died in 2002 of a liver infection in a hospital in Cairo . [10]The family of Princess Hind Al-Fassi and Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud had gone there after Prince Turki had to leave Saudi Arabia, which has not been rehabilitated until today. [9]

The Malnik family stayed in the USA; Shareef Malnik played in 1997 in a small supporting role in the movie The Blackout by Abel Ferrara .

Michael Jackson
The friendship of Malnik and Michael Jackson should go back to the year 2002. When Jackson struggled with liquidity to pay a total of $ 3 million in bail and attorney fees, it was Malnik, the leading lender in Miami, who closed this funding gap. [2]

Malnik became a consultant to Michael Jackson. So he tried u. a. In 2004, a moratorium on the repayment of the millions of credits that Jackson had taken. [11]

"He never cared how much he [Michael Jackson] spent."

- Alvin Ira Malnik [12]
As a thank you, Malnik was listed on the "Greatest Hits" album under "Special thanks" in the early 2000s. [2] Jackson had at that time a few months with his children and his followers in the House of Malnik at Palm Beach withdrawn. [13]

In 2003, Jackson performed at Malnik's 70th birthday party. [14] [13]

After the death of Jackson in 2009, Malnik gave numerous interviews, u. a. in the "Today Show" on NBC , with CBS (CBS4) and the Palm Beach Post , and offered the media private videos of Jackson with his children. [15] He also commented on the difficult financial position, as in addition unexplained share of claims of former business partner Debbie Rowe , the biological mother of the two oldest Jackson children, a claim to the sole custody could apply for the children.

"Decrypting everything could take months, if not years."

- Alvin Malnik : [16]
Malnik claimed that Jackson had used him in 2003 as a liquidator . [17] In addition, he was the godfather of Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, II, the youngest son, who was discharged from a previously unknown surrogate mother. Malnik has committed in writing to provide for his godchild if something should happen to the singer. [12] Malnik denied after Jackson's death that he was the natural father of his godchild. [14] [18]

The reporter Bob Norman reported that in the end the friendship of Jackson and Malnik should have broken apart, as Jackson assumed that Malnik was involved in the attempt to take away his rights to the Beatles songs. The Miami New Times described Malnik as one of Michael Jackson's countless "false friends" and "shadowy opportunists". [15]

Politics and Business
Democratic Party and donation activities
Malnik is one of the largest donors to the Democratic Party for years . He maintains good contacts with Chuck Schumer . As one of the closest friends Bernie Madoff , who was also a major donor of the Democratic Party.

He supports the Founders Society of the University of Miami, the Founder of Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Founder of the University of Miami, the New Year's Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation . [19]

Casinos
Malnik continues to be involved in the casino business. He is a consultant for the casino complexes in Mystic Lake and Mount Pleasant . He also tried to take over the Hard Rock Casino resort from the Seminoles in Florida. He is said to have managed in various ways to have penetrated into Indian casinos ; so he is associated with 300 of the 450 of these "Indian casinos". [20]

Borrowing and Financing
Malnik is the leading money lender in Florida. He holds 100% of shares of Title Loans of America , which is particularly concerned with the car financing and generates profit rates of up to 300%. The company is one of the largest creditors - in terms of number of individual claims - in the US. [5]

Film industry
In his work as a lawyer with links to the film industry , some well-known film greats have used his services, for example Frank Sinatra , Sammy Davis Jr. , Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason . [21]

Al Malnik was also co-producer of several films from 2002:

2006: Revoloution (2006)
2003: The Gospel of Lou
2002: 2 Birds with 1 Stallone
Family
Alvin Malnik got in 1958 along with his wife Debbie a son, Mark Malnik, to which he left his Forge Restaurant founded in 1968 in South Beach on November 4, 1991, which is frequented by the jet set . Due to the family relations of the Malnik family to the Saudi Arabian royal family changed this name in 1982 after the marriage with Hoda Al-Fassi in Shareef Malnik. Under this name, he also took part in some motorsport races; u. a. In 1999, he was one of four "Team Transenergy" riders in the Sebring 12 Hours (1999 Exxon Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring).

In 1960, the daughter Andrea was born. In 1984, Yaseen, the son of Shareef Malnik and Hoda, was born.

On April 22, 1992, Malnik remarried. His new wife is the former model Nancy Elaine Gresham; In July 1998 she gave birth to the triplets Nathan Asher, Spencer Nicole and Jarod Jay Malnik.

In May 2011, American film producer Brett Ratner stated in a 20-question interview that he views Al Malnik as his real father - who promoted him - and feels that he belongs to his family. [22]