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VIBRANT CURIOSITY Yacht – Prestigious $150M Superyacht

VIBRANT CURIOSITY yacht, The $150 million superyacht.

She is an 85m yacht that features interior and exterior design by Italian design house Nuvolari Lenard.

She was built by shipbuilders Oceanco and delivered from their Netherlands-based shipyard in 2009. The yacht is a striking and award-winning vessel that exceeds expectations repeatedly.

VIBRANT CURIOSITY yacht interior

Italian interior designer  Nuvolari Lenard  penned the interior of the impressive VIBRANT CURIOSITY.

The interior is best described as a perfect mixture of luxury and sobriety. The yacht features accommodation for 18 guests in 9 cabins.

The cabins are configured in 1 master, 1 VIP, and seven double rooms with luxurious fittings. The master suite has an office and a private exterior deck with a whirlpool.

The VIBRANT CURIOSITY has accommodation for 26 expert crew on board.

An elevator makes getting to the different levels of the yacht easy for guests. The award-winning yacht features a sundeck filled with places to lie in the sun or enjoy the on-deck pool.

A special feature of the interior of VIBRANT CURIOSITY is the lighting that creates a luxury ambiance throughout the ship. On the top deck, there is a helipad with a helicopter.

No interior photos have been released of the VIBRANT CURIOSITY, but Nuvolari Lenard is best known for providing luxury Italian-inspired styling.

Nuvolari Lenard also designed the exterior of the VIBRANT CURIOSITY. The yacht was built by the esteemed shipbuilders  Oceanco  and delivered from the Netherlands-based shipyard in 2009.

She is built with a teak deck, a steel hull, and an aluminum superstructure. Her exterior displays a unique band-like design along the superstructure, and she has a flared bow. VIBRANT CURIOSITY was last refitted in 2015.

Specifications

VIBRANT CURIOSITY has an 85.47m length and a beam of 14.2m. She has a significantly deeper draft at 3m. The yacht has a displacement of 2822 gross tons powered by twin MTU engines.

She has a cruising speed of 16 knots and a maximum speed of 20 knots, with a range of 5500 nautical miles. With an annual running cost of $10 – $15 million, she has a Lloyd’s Classification.

VIBRANT CURIOSITY won a multitude of awards throughout 2010, including the Asia Boating Award.

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Mega-yacht named vibrant curiosity is true to its moniker.

By Julia Brennan

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Islanders may be accustomed to sightings of mega-yachts during summer months, but the arrival of the Vibrant Curiosity at the anchorage just outside Dering Harbor got the phones ringing at the Reporter.

The yacht —  according to SuperYachts.com and other published reports — is 280 feet four inches long, with a 47-foot beam and draught of just over 13 feet. It has twin 4,680 horsepower engines that allow it to travel at a top speed of about 20 knots and a cruising speed of 17 knots with a range of 5,000 nautical miles.

Owned by German billionaire Reinhold Wuerth, Vibrant Curiosity was reportedly purchased for $111 million. Launched in 2009, it was designed by an Italian company, Nuvolari & Lenard. It flies the flag of the United Kingdom, leading a couple of those in attendance at a village of Dering Harbor event to speculate that guests might include British royalty.

Efforts to discover who was aboard the yacht during its stay off Shelter Island have been unsuccesful.

The yacht, which has accommodations for 14 people and a crew of 26, most recently made the news August 1 when the New York Post ran a story about it headlined: “Another jackass billionaire blocked Lady Liberty with his megayacht.”

The story described the frustration of some tourists who were unable to get a clear photograph of the Statute of Liberty because the yacht reportedly was anchored so as to “hog the free view.”

Mr. Wuerth, according to a Forbes profile, runs a family wholesale screw business, Wuerth Group, that is “the leading global supplier of assembly and fastening materials for the automotive, construction and engineering trades,” prompting The Post to dub him, of course, “the screw king.”

Locally, a group of swimmers approached crew members who’d arrived at the Section 9 beach by tender to set up for a children’s birthday party on Friday. One of the swimmers, Carole Tiernan, said they were concerned that the crew members might encroach on sensitive seagrasses in the area. But they were unable to winkle any information out of the crew.

A couple staying aboard their sailboat in Dering Harbor also were unsuccessful in discovering anything about the occupants. Marji Cyr, in a call to the Reporter, raised the possibility that the boat might be available for short-term cruises. No information could be found to support that idea.

Islanders might worry that the arrival of Vibrant Curiosity heralds an invasion of mega-yachts, but a debt of gratitude is owed to the multimillionaires of the past who berthed their ocean-going sailing vessels here.

Some of them asserted political pressure to can proposals to build bridges connecting the Island to the north and south forks because the proposed spans would’ve blocked the tall masts of their yachts.

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German billionaire's super yacht in New Zealand

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The Vibrant Curiosity has been spotted around Auckland. Photo / Supplied

Vibrant Curiosity, the 85m super yacht owned by German entrepreneur Reinhold Wurth, has been spotted in Auckland waters this weekend.

The vessel, which has a maximum speed of 18.5 knots, attracted attention yesterday at the entrance to Bon Accord Harbour at Kawau Island, where a helicopter was perched on the top deck.

A shipping tracking site shows the vessel is now at Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island after cruising there via Waiheke Island.

The Super Yacht Times reported Vibrant Curiosity was first spotted in Auckland waters at the end of last month.

Reported to cost $111 million, the luxury vessel sleeps 14 guests in seven cabins while boasting space for 26 crew members.

The master room features its own office and a private exterior deck complete with a spa.

There's a swimming pool and beach chairs on the main deck and a lift operates in the interior.

Built in 2009, the yacht gets its name from Wurth company's motto in the 2006/2007 business year.

Reinhold Wurth is the 141st wealthiest person in the World according to Forbes , with a net worth of US$11 billion. He entered his father's whole screw business, Wurth Company, at age 14.

After the death of his father, Wurth steered the company towards manufacturing automobile parts and has served as provider to Forumla One, Nascar, V8 Supercars, and DTM competitors.

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Yacht German owned

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Vibrant Curiosity — the 85m, 2000 tonne vessel owned by German billionaire Reinhold Wurth — docked at Birch St wharf yesterday after arriving from Akaroa.

The superyacht is destined for Stewart Island and shipping schedules suggest it will depart at noon today.

The company’s shipping agent is listed as marinelogix, but the company’s co-founder, Mark Donaldson, would not be drawn on who was aboard the vessel or why it was sailing the South Island.

Luxury yachting website Superyachts.com said the 7-cabin vessel accommodated 14 people with a crew of 26. It was built by Dutch shipyard Oceanco in 2009 at a reported cost of about £65 million (about $NZ113 million).

The superyacht’s construction raised the ire of many in Europe as it came at a time when its 81-year-old owner’s company cut employees’ pay and working hours. Mr Wurth, also known as the Screw King, has a reported worth of $US11 billion.

The yacht has its own helipad and swimming pool, and the master stateroom features its own office and private exterior deck complete with a spa.

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Rein Wuerth’s Infamous Buy Is A Luxury Yacht Called Vibrant Curiosity

The recession has hit everyone rather differently. The rich are ok but the poor are getting poorer. Let’s take the example set by German billionaire Reinhold Wuerth. He is number 93 on The Forbes 2009 list and has made all the moolah thanks to his screw manufacturing business. That apart, the man has been in news for laying off his workers by faking a recession. And now, he has gone on to buy a $100 million yacht.

Touted as a convicted tax evader, this man is busy celebrating the christening of his newly-acquired super yacht, the Vibrant Curiosity. This 85-meter yacht was built at the Oceano dock near Rotterdam. Two diesel engines generate 4,680 horsepower and make it achieve a speed of 18.5 knots.

The interior is also very luxurious. There is a large master cabin accompanied by opulent a VIP suite and several other luxury cabins for 14 guests. Wuerth is keeping mum about his new purchase. The liner is impressive but the infamous history of the owner is difficult to ignore when judging this vessel.

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35 comments.

This boat is parked outside of my partment in Grand Cayman right now, and what I sight it is. Rein if you’re reading this, we’re going to swim out there later.

Just saw the yacht at the cruise terminal in Habana, Cuba.

Impressive indeed!

I saw this yacht docked in the Nassau Harbour April 6, 2010. I was on a Carnival cruise and it was in front of our ship. Someone told me it was owned by Beyonce and Jay-z. But found out other wise when I Googled it.

I was on a Carnival cruise to Nassau in April 9,2010 and also saw this yacht.There was a young handsome man and girl sunbathing.An older woman later came out.I wondered who they were.Maybe grandchildren of the owner?

BEING A LISCENCED CAPTAIN I CAN APRCIATE A GOOD BOAT WHEN I SEE ONE THIS ON IS TOPS SAW IT IN HAVANA BAY THERES NO OTHER PLACE TO DOCK IN HAVANA EXCEPT MATANZAS OR MARIEL BEAUTIFULL BOAT

Wow, parked right next to my balcony in Bermuda,…. its amaizing

This Yacht just pulled in since last night here in St. Georges, Bermuda. Quite impressive. I can’t even imagine sailing on a yacht so large. Boggles my mind!

It is a breathtaking vision to behold!

It was docked at St. George in Bermuda Tuesday. I was on the Explorer of the Seas and the seas and the winds were making voyaging on the ocean rather challenging for our 1,000+ mega ship. It would have been a rather bouncy ride on something so much smaller. This yacht is like the fancy sports car that looks fantastic just sitting in place. It is a beauty.

This yacht is currently docked in Malta at the drydocks undergoing repairs.

I saw it docked in Malta in June while on holiday, it was there for at least a week as we arrived 25th June and left 9th July.

Saw the yacht docked in Venice. More people were looking at it then at many of the city’s sights!

Staring at this boat in Venice Italy right now, holy shit

its in venice now, pretty cool boat!

I just saw this yatch in Kotor (Montenegro). It arived today afternoon. I don’t knew the history of the owner .I don’t will buy more Wurth products.

Just docked next to this gorgeous yacht in Kotor, Montenegro. Wow!

Saw this yacht in Malta and it is insane! I am a merchant marine from a ship with hundreds of cadets and everyone had one thing to say “HOLY SHIT!”

Is standing right now in old harbor portoferraio on elba, italy. Has at least 8 persons staff on it.

We just cruised around this ship yesterday in Marina di Campo on Elba – what a beauty – Great Style !!!!

i just saw it parked outside my apartment in Kansas , wondering how in the hell it got here??? It’s beautiful..

The yacht is /was now in the Caribbean.. It is ” parked” in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles… Its stunning!!! Mr. Wuerth… if you see somebody climb over the fence… its me, trying to say : Hi there :)…

Have a wonderful time in Dushi Curacao

Saw this yacht exiting the Panama Canal on the Pacific side January 17, beautiful

This beauty lady is at Buenos Aires, enjoying 2011 fall

And now its back in the Netherlands again at Oceanco.. A real globetrotter..

Today it´s in Gothenburg. Parked next to my job. It lays right behind another beutifull yacht named Utopia. what a sight. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She’s taking on fuel at Christiansted, St Croix. I imagine it will be a lengthy process. Nice boat.

It’s parked in Christiansted harbor st croix right now.

This yacht is in the harbor at Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands and is the largest yacht we have seen here. It is a sight to behold. Beautiful!

Right now at the Dominican Republic Ozama Harbor.

just saw the beautiful yatch last night eating dinner at da vida restaurant in Anguilla, British West indies. Saw the people from the yatch on Sandy Island today very nice people!!!! 20/02/12

This yacht is outside my home on the island of Dominica. Amazing!!

It is in Seattle now on Lake Union getting ready for a Alaska Cruise

Just saw her with the helicopter at Marina Portals Mallorca for one night Wow !

Just saw this amazing yacht in Nassau Bahamas!It is absolutely stunning!

I’m from the Bahamas and just saw vibrant curiosity and it is absolutely stunning! It is so huge that it has to dock where the cruise ships dock. Amazing!

dominating English Harbour, Antigua !!!

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Markus Würth: Billionaire's son left tied to tree by bungling kidnappers who demanded £1.5m ransom

Markus Würth was seized by masked men from the home for the mentally disabled he lives in

• 18:36, 18 Jun 2015
• Updated 20:41, 18 Jun 2015

A gang of kidnappers abducted the son of one of the world's richest men and demanded a ransom of £1.5milion, before losing their nerve and leaving him tied to a tree.

Markus Würth was seized by masked men from the home for the mentally disabled he lives in yesterday.

The 50-year-old, who has had learning difficulties, is the son of industrialist Reinhold Würth.

Known in Germany as the Schrauben-König, or “Screw-King” in reference to the family hardware business that made him rich, the older Mr Würth is estimated to be worth $7.4 billion (£4.6 billion).

The unknown kidnappers reportedly demanded a ransom of €2m (£1.5m) for his son.

But police believe they panicked when they learned of the huge scale police operation and left him chained to a tree in a forest near

They sent the police GPS coordinates of where to find Mr Würth, according to a report in Bild newspaper.

A news blackout, which police imposed when Mr Würth was seized was lifted when he was recovered unharmed.

A spokesman from the Würth Group confirmed the kidnapping had taken place and Mr Würth was safe but refused to say more.

A police spokesman said that no ransom had been paid.

He added: “A 50-year-old man was initially reported missing on Wednesday afternoon.”

“ Intensive search measures were initiated by the police. A little later, the wealthy parents of the missing person received a ransom note in the millions. No money was transferred, however.

“The crime victim was safely found this morning in a wooded area near Würzburg.

“Investigations into the perpetrators continue.”

Mr Würth’s family reported him missing after he failed to turn up to lunch, according to reports.

Some 40 police officers and 50 local firefighters took part in an initial search with sniffer dogs.

After the ransom demand was received police sealed off the area and began a nationwide search.

Police have asked anyone with any information that could lead them to Mr Würth’s abductors to come forward.

They are searching for a van the kidnappers used, according to reports.

Mr Würth, who has been living in the home for the disabled near Schlitz in Hesse for 30 years, developed a learning disability due to a childhood vaccine.

The older Mr Würth, 80, is a self-made billionaire who started working at the age of 14.

He inherited the family’s tiny hardware business when he was 19, and transformed it into a major company.

Today the Würth Group has an annual revenue of €10bn (£7bn) and employs more than 63,000 people.

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A businessman and his business

Building up the multinational Würth Group is the life’s work of Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group. The development of the Group is considered one of the success stories in German economic history. It all started in the summer of 1945 with Adolf Würth opening a screw wholesale business in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg.

From the very beginning

His son, Reinhold, was right by his side from the very beginning and helped his father wherever he could. Reinhold Würth officially joined the company on 1 October 1949 as the second employee and first apprentice. Very early on, his father sent him on sales trips: At the age of just fifteen, Reinhold Würth drove to Düsseldorf all by himself for the first time to secure new customers for the company. Today, he admits that at the time he “was a little afraid of having to knock on doors unknown.” However, he was successful and returned with new orders.

The young boss Reinhold Würth (second from left) with his three main sales representatives Otto Hempel, Hans Hügel and Artur Herold (1958).

Reinhold Würth takes over the management

In 1954, Adolf Würth passed away suddenly at the age of 45. At that time, Reinhold Würth took over the management of the family business at only 19, with two employees and an annual sales volume of EUR 80,000. He exceeded his first target of maintaining the sales volume of the previous year. Acting with a far-sighted strategy and vision and the support of his mother Alma Würth, Reinhold Würth successfully continued the business and added one success to the next. In 1962, the first national company, Würth Netherlands, was founded, followed by companies in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and other countries. In 1969, Reinhold Würth ventured over the Atlantic to North America. One year later, Würth expanded its activities to South Africa. With the establishment of the companies in Australia (1982), Japan, and Malaysia (both 1987), the small group of companies had extended its footprint across all continents.

By establishing and developing direct selling, an important foundation was laid for the company's success. More than 43,000 employees worldwide are in touch with their customers every day thanks to the many different sales channels. They know what their customers need and the company tailors its services to fit them: making the customers’ lives easier by developing innovative products. Lending a hand and finding new ideas and solutions that help customers in their day-to-day business are guiding principles at Würth. “Looking beyond the mountain and around the next corner” and leaving the well-trodden paths has always been one of Reinhold Würth’s basic rules for the company. His motto: “We are our customers’ employees.”

Based on these principles, Reinhold Würth has created a corporate culture that is based on optimism, dynamism, and appreciation of employees and their performance for their customers.

Giving something back to society

Apart from his responsibility for the staff and the company, his responsibility to society plays a central role for Reinhold Würth. To pool together different activities and actively promote this involvement, Reinhold Würth and his wife, Carmen Würth, established the Würth Foundation in 1987, which promotes and supports projects in the fields of art and culture, research and science, education and training, and integration. However, Würth’s commitment to society goes far beyond the work of the Würth Foundation. Starting in the winter semester of 1999/2000, Reinhold Würth was offered the Chair for Entrepreneurship at University of Karlsruhe (TH), where he shared with the students what is important when establishing and managing a company until 2003.

In recognition of his outstanding social and cultural commitment, as well as his entrepreneurial achievements, Reinhold Würth has received numerous awards:

He was awarded the German Founder’s Prize for his life’s work in 2004. He received the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. In 2009, Reinhold Würth received the French medal “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” in recognition of his extraordinary merits in the cultural cooperation between Germany and France and was appointed Commander of the French Légion d’Honneur in 2013. In 2012, Carmen and Reinhold Würth were awarded the James Simon Prize for their exemplary social and cultural commitment in Germany. Reinhold Würth was honored with the International Folkwang Prize in 2013. His good reputation is also reflected in the numerous honorary citizenships he was given over the years, including by the towns of Künzelsau and Schwäbisch Hall in Germany, Erstein in France and Palermo in Italy. Reinhold Würth is an honorary senator of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Stuttgart, and Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen; he also holds numerous honorary doctorates, including from University of Palermo in Italy and University of Louisville in Kentucky in the USA.

Reinhold and Carmen Würth at the opening of the art exhibition "Lust auf mehr" in front of Georg Baselitz' sculpture "Yellow Song" from the Würth Collection.

A passion for art and culture

Reinhold Würth is a passionate art collector and a devoted champion of culture. This passion was ignited back in the 1970s. Half a century later, the Würth Collection contains about 20,000 works of art from over 500 years of art history, and it is still growing. In 2017, in the wake of inaugurating Carmen Würth Forum, Reinhold Würth prompted the foundation of Würth Philharmoniker, the new philharmonic orchestra in the region. Museum Würth 2 was opened in 2020 as an extension of Carmen Würth Forum, representing the company’s fifth art museum in Germany and 15th art gallery in Europe. Reinhold Würth’s top priority has always been to share his inspiration from art, music, and literature with his employees and with the public at large.

Granatapfelkerne

Im Olymp entbrannte mal zwischen Aphrodite (Göttin der Schönheit), Athene (Göttin der Weisheit) und Hera (Göttin der Macht) ein Streit darüber, wer die begehrenswerteste sei und weil die Unsterblichen ihn nicht schlichten konnten, wandte man sich an einen Sterblichen mit gutem Frauengeschmack. Alle drei versuchten, ihn zu bestechen. Hera bot ihm an, der mächtigste Mann auf Erden zu werden, Athene versprach ihm philosophischen Ruhm und Aphrodite offerierte dem jungen Mann die schönste Frau der Welt. Klar, dass er Aphrodite zur geilsten Göttin wählte und ihr als Zeichen seiner Wahl einen Granatapfel überreichte. Der junge Mann hieß Paris und war ein Königssohn von Troja. Geographisch gehörte die Stadt zu Kleinasien und das Mutterland des Granatapfelbaums war das alte Persien. Ein wunderschöner Baum mit lackroten Früchten, deren Kerne, weder fleischig noch verholzt, wie süße Perlen im Mund versaften.

Für die Abergläubischen. Denn Knoblauch diente dem mittleren und vorderen Orient, sowie dem Levante und dem Maghreb, als Schutz gegen den bösen Blick.

“When an elephant walks through the village, all the dogs bark", as the Indians say, and because I don't position myself as a barking dog and still want to ask an important question, I rely on him having mellowed with age.

"Mr. Würth, you are a billionaire and a Christian..."

The company director nods.

"Then what would you say to Jesus' proclamation that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

"But we're not doing bad things with the money."

“I know you have 70,000 employees worldwide, all with their respective families. You feed over 100,000 people... "

The eighth richest German nods.

“And beyond that, you are doing a great deal for art, culture and infrastructure in your region, but also for the unification of Europe. The working atmosphere at Würth is highly praised, you are social, charitable and fair - no, you don't do anything bad with the money, and that's why I ask how you see it. Was Jesus wrong, or are there exceptions to the rule? "

"Oh," says Reinhold Würth, and now he smiles "maybe he didn't mean it in that way".

"Yes, perhaps."

In front of me sits an amiable old man in impeccable, respectable, but not uncomfortable attire. He has beautiful hands, and with fingers like that he could have made a career as a pianist or guitarist. He made one instead with screws.

Although they surround me everywhere, and without them my life would be completely different, I am not interested in screws. I'm interested in success, and Reinhold Würth is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in post-war Germany. That is why I am here, and have spared neither effort nor pain.

Because I want to think green at least once a year, I didn't use the car to get to Künzelsau, but opted for public transport. That was a big mistake. After Würzburg I bid the fabulous world of ICE farewell, and was left with regional trains, which are terrible for anyone who has ever suffered a slipped disc, pretty bad even for people who haven't, and not particularly the best way to enjoy the beauty of Franconian Switzerland, but at least it was still on the track to Bad Mergentheim. There the railway ends. There is only one bus to Künzelsau that takes about an hour, stopping at every milk bottle on the way. The corporate headquarters are in the middle of the countryside. And what kind of name is that? Künzelsau, ‘Pig stick’?

Are they serious? Yes, they are, that's exactly what the place-name sign says. But as soon as you arrive in the small town of 1,700 souls, you only see the name of my interviewee, in fact even before you get there. In a radius of at least 50 kilometers, "Würth" is present everywhere, and where there is no Würth on it, there is often Würth in it, as in the Gaisbach screw factory etc. The state’s name is actually spelled with tt, but with th, Baden Würt (h) enberg would make a lot more sense.

"Mr. Würth, at only 19 years old you took over your father's small screw business, with an annual turnover of 350,000 marks. It has since grown into a global corporation with an annual turnover of 17 billion. You made your first deliveries from village to village with a cart, whereas now an armada of trucks does the job for you. You can now be found either on an 87 meter long yacht, or in your Cessna, which you fly yourself... "

"No, not a Cessna."

"But I read that you had to make a stop in Ulaanbaatar on a flight back from your one of your branches in China to refuel your Cessna, which incidentally led to the establishment of a branch of Würth in Mongolia, and ..."

"It wasn't Cessna," says Reinhold Würth. "It was a trijet."

"Then my colleague must have misunderstood. I couldn't believe it either. With a Cessna from China to Germany! They jump from air pocket to air pocket. I once flew over the Bay of Lübeck with Beate Uhse in her Cessna, that was her condition for the interview. She would only do it in the Cessna. And once we were above the clouds, she handed me the controls, and I was only allowed to ask her my questions while I was flying the plane myself. Let me tell you, Mr. Würth, that was a very short interview. "

As I started the anecdote about the sex-product entrepreneur, I felt a slight discomfort in my counterpart, but he liked the end of the story. He finds it amusing that you could control an interview like that. Besides, he's not just an 83-year-old man of honor with a conservative value system, but also a pilot.

"Not any more," says Reinhold Würth. "I gave up my license two years ago. My eyes are getting weaker. It was important to me that I do that without being asked. I didn't want my doctor to have to ban me at some point. "

The company director had argued in a similarly sensible way about 20 years ago, when he stepped back from daily proceedings and left the management of the company to his managers.

He said he didn’t want any possible obstinacy to hamper the business, but at the same time he took over as Chairman of the Foundation Advisory Board, which gave him the final say, if necessary. When things threatened to get out of hand, he took back control. "It's your own fault," he liked to say to his people, "but as soon as you do everything right again, I'll be out of the way."

He just does everything properly. And that brings me back to my actual question, which, by the way, I answer myself, and then I think: this interview is terrible.

"Mr. Würth, when I meet extremely successful people like you, I would of course like to learn how one can become so successful ... (pause) ... but if I think about it, that doesn't really work. .. (pause) ... because everyone is who they are. "

“Yes,” says the Patriach of Screws. "That's true".

In the beginning there is always an idea. And the simpler it is, the more it can develop, because complicated ideas don't work. “Everyone needs screws” was the very simple idea of ​​his father Adolf Würth. He had it at the right time - On July 16, 1945, he opened a screw wholesaler in the old mill in his hometown, because after the end of the Second World War there was a lot to rebuild in and around Künzelsau. “The whole world needs screws” being in turn the extremely simple idea of ​​his son, who took over the small company in 1954.

Traditionally, screw dealers only supplied customers within their region, but Reinhold Würth was soon looking for and finding buyers beyond the Hohenlohe area, first in Germany, then in Europe, and finally around the globe. He did not leave any continent out. With the right kind of technology, as well as demand, he would with some certainty also be supplying our neighboring planets today. Würth on the moon, branches on Mars.

I'm joking, of course, but only half joking. Speaking of which, the right idea is one half of success, and the right man the other. And again his father comes into play. Because Adolf Würth had a heart defect, he wanted to start training his successor as early as possible, therefore taking his son out of school when at 14.

He had five years to turn the junior into a screw trading specialist and entrepreneur, and when he died in 1954 his knowledge and ability lived on in his son, as well as his mantra (achieve, achieve, achieve) and his character, whose main pillars are reliability and accountability. Reinhold Würth also inherited knowing the value of having the right woman at his side. Like his father, he found his true love in a church choir, and knew she was the one.

He did not speak to her immediately, but instead made enquiries as to her name and address, then asked her parents for their permission to take her out. Since then, Carmen Würth has done for him what his mother did for his father. She is his support, his sanctuary and a replenishing source of energy. Three children, two grandchildren, and a happy patriarch in their midst, you can't become like that if you haven't already always been so, or, to put it in the words of a Krupp, Georg Krupp, the former managing director of the German Bank: “Reinhold Würth is a born entrepreneur. It’s not something one can learn, its something he inherited. "

So I bid farewell to my wish to learn from a billionaire how to become a billionaire, and instead switch to philosophising. For example, about the nature of dreams.

“Mr. Würth, the Turks say that you lose your dreams as soon as you realize them. My experience confirms that, but it's not that bad for me because there are still enough dreams in my life that have never come true. With a billionaire, I imagine it would be more difficult, at least for the dreams that money can buy. "

And what does he say?

“Oh, you know,” says the billionaire, reaching into his pocket, “I actually never have any money with me. If I ever need any, I ask my chauffeur if he can lend me 20 euros ”.

Reinhold Würth smiles, but I have to laugh. This continues, because he responds to my next question with more humor. Maybe he isn’t taking me seriously anymore, or maybe the opposite is true, but in the end I don't care because whoever brings a laugh (as the Turks also say) always brings a gift. So I use my finger to draw an imaginary line across the fabulous conference table we are sitting at: rising steeply, without any crashes, and yes, even without any jagged edges, to demonstrate the trajectory of his success story.

"Has there really never been any misfortune in your life, Mr. Würth?"

"Oh yes," he says, pointing to his foot. "I broke my ankle once."

We’re both aware of the understatment. Obviously his father's early death was a huge blow, and a massive challenge. At 19, taking on not only the company, but having to provide for your mother and siblings, is more than jumping in the deep end, more than learning by doing, more like working with your back to the wall. Show-down every day. Either he brings in the orders, or the family suffers.

This pressure, along with the joy he takes in what he does explain his early (most amazing) as well as his later (gigantic) successes. “For me, sales is the most beautiful job in the world,” says Reinhold Würth, and this time he doesn't joke. “Why,” I ask, because I can't understand it.

“I don't like sales,” I say. “I find it embarrassing, I don't know why. I’d rather trust that the goods will sell themselves. "

Reinhold Würth nods.

"That's true. The goods sell, but the seller too, of course”.

Why does he love sales so much? He gives three reasons. The first is travel, this he had already mentioned.

“You once said: ‘Travel is life and life is travel.’ Is this an original quote of yours, Mr. Würth? "

"Yes."

"My compliments, the sentence is as beautiful as your globe."

"What globe?"

“Well, the one in front of your office. I love globes, and this is certainly the most magnificent I've ever seen. How much was it? "

“Oh,” says Reinhold Würth and laughs, “I don't remember”.

A huge globe with the most important places from his travels engraved on the metal ring that wraps around it like a meteoroid belt.

- 1951 Switzerland, escort and chauffeur for his father.

- 1957, Rimini, 1st trip to Italy.

- 1967, first flight with own plane to Spain.

-1984, Istanbul, managing director - conference.

- 1985, 1st flight with the Concorde to the USA.

- 2015 Vienna, last flight as a pilot.

These are of course only a few examples from his list on the globe, which in turn is also incomplete because Reinhold Würth has been on the road his whole life and still is. Even just with his yacht, twice a year he spends two months on the world's oceans.

The second reason that Reinhold Würth gives for his love of sales is all the people you get to know, and all the interesting conversations you have with them, even these are engraved on his fabulous globe by Bellerby & Co.

1999- Künzelsau, visit of the Dalai Lama in the company headquarters.

2000 London, meeting with Nelson Mandela,

2002 Vatican, private audience with Pope John Paul II,

etc, etc ... and who did he like the most?

"Nelson Mandela. That an innocent man being jailed for 25 years doesn't want revenge afterwards, although he had the power to do so, impresses me to this day. "

Salesman’s pleasure no.3:

"In sales, I became a good judge of character," says Reinholdt Würth. "After being with someone for an hour, I’m able to get a good idea of ​​them."

That helped him a lot when choosing his employees. The company is known for its internal careers. Many of those who started apprenticeships decades ago have stayed on and are now top managers. A good knowledge of human nature is like gold dust for any business, and for a brief moment I’m tempted to put it to the test, but we haven't been sitting together for an hour, only 40 minutes, and I'm not all that keen to find out what Reinhold Würth thinks of me.

Not because my trajectory of success resembles the panorama of a mountain range, with peaks and gorges alternating as far as the eye can see. That’s normal. And not because my love and family life was the opposite to his, because that's normal for my generation of crazy 68ers. My wardrobe, on the other hand, isn't normal at all. I am scandalously underdressed for a meeting with Reinhold Würth, him being well known for how important he finds a smart appearance.

I knew that, but knowing didn't help me because I’d come straight from a six-day book tour to Künzelsau, you can imagine what I’d look like after something like that. But I had a plan. In Hanover I bought a new shirt because I had half an hour between trains and I could see a nearby H&M from the platform. I bought new trousers before I got on the bus in Bad Mergentheim, and the shoes were scheduled for Künzelsau, but the bus, as I already mentioned, took a full hour to get through the beautiful Hohenloher countryside - uphill, downhill and winding through every remote village to collect and drop off schoolchildren was not part of my plan.

But not part of my shame either. It can happen that you don't know the bus timetables in Northern Franconia - or wherever we are here - off by heart, so the last emergency purchase didn’t work out. But what must not happen is that you start from top to bottom, instead of from bottom to top, because the shoes are the most important thing. I was sitting in battered old Nikes in front of the head of the company - all that schlepping around had torn a hole in my left shoe. Not a big one, but he saw it right away. No, I really don't want to know what impression he had of me after 40 minutes, but he tells me without being asked.

“You are a novelist,” Reinhold Würth says to me when we say goodbye, and this generosity instantly makes him my favourite billionaire.

Three days later.

I am well-dressed and sitting with 500 other well-dressed guests in a concert hall built by Reinhold Würth , within sight of the corporate headquarters, dedicated to his wife on her 80th birthday. Hence the reason why it bears her name: ‘Carmen Würth Forum’.

We listen to Beethoven's 9th, performed by the ‘Unesco World Orchestra for Peace’, in which classical musicians from all possible nations have been playing together for about 20 years. They are supported by the company's orchestra, the ‘Würth Philarmoniker’’, and the Bavarian Radio Choir. The man with the baton and the wild hairstyle is not just anyone, but Donald Runnicles, one of the most important contemporary conductors in the world, and since 2006 the General Music Director of the Deutsche Opera in Berlin. Before that he was Music Director of the San Francisco Opera and his Lulu production at the MET in New York caused a sensation. In Künzelsau he conducted Beethoven's 9th. It's a peace concert. The end of the 2nd World War was celebrating its centenary and what better way to go with it than the Ode to Joy and the hope for the end of all wars.

"All people become brothers

Where your gentle wing rests."

It is the most positive work of the great composer, created in divine intoxication, and while I listen it suddenly becomes clear to me why my question to Reinhold Würth of whether a billionaire does not lose all dreams at some point, was ridiculous. Beethoven premiered the symphony in Vienna in 1824, and Schiller wrote the text for it, almost 200 years ago. And yet to this day all people have by no means become brothers, not even the Europeans have managed it. No, the 11-time billionaire (that's 11,000 million) still has dreams and is working hard to make them come true, with concerts like this one. He's a staunch European and gives what he can, which is a lot. Nevertheless, the positive impression that Reinhold Würth makes in his appearance on stage is due to his respect for the audience, as well as a deeply New Apostolic modesty independent of his successes, which is rooted in the belief that we are all God’s creations a) only small, and b) fleeting screws, no matter how big and eternal the wheels seem that we turn in our lives.

Published  in Bilanz Magazine

Author Helge Timmerberg

Fotocredit:

Many thanks to  Reinhold Würth for the private family album.

Photo montage: Limousine in heaven: Maielin van Eilum

Karel Jaromír Erben / "Venceslav cerny svec a cert" / Wikimedia Commons

Photo Helge  /  Frederico Balboa

Translator /  Artemis Meereis

Proofreading   /  Nadia Ratti

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' son accused of sex assault in lawsuit that also names music mogul as defendant

LOS ANGELES — Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is a subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation , has been named as a defendant in a new lawsuit that alleges his son sexually assaulted a woman while she was working on a yacht the music mogul had chartered for a trip at the end of 2022. 

The allegation is the latest in a wave of lawsuits accusing Combs , 54, of sexual assault, sexual trafficking and engaging in other criminal activity. He has denied all the allegations, calling them sickening.

In the suit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Grace O’Marcaigh alleges that Christian Combs, 26, sexually assaulted her in late December 2022 while she was working on a boat charter that had been “sold as a wholesome family excursion” but turned into a “hedonistic environment.” 

The alleged assault happened just days before Sean Combs hosted a New Year’s Eve yacht party with a long list of celebrity guests . 

Christian Combs is accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and infliction of emotional distress in the lawsuit. Sean Combs is being sued for premises liability as the person who chartered the yacht and for aiding and abetting his son in the alleged assault. 

Representatives for Christian and Sean Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night. Sean Combs has denied all of the recent allegations against him. 

 “Like father, like son," attorney Tyrone Blackburn, who is representing O’Marcaigh, said Thursday night after the suit was filed. "It gives us no joy or pleasure in filing this suit against Christian Combs who has clearly adopted his father’s pattern and practice of depravity."

In the yacht studio

In her suit, O’Marcaigh alleges that Christian Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her. She included transcriptions of audio clips that she states are evidence of her denying his advances as he gropes her. The suit states that the clips were recorded by a producer in the studio. 

O’Marcaigh, who was 25 at the time of the alleged assault, worked as a steward providing dinner and drink service on the yacht from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and witnessed partying and drug use between a “constant rotation of suspected sex workers” and celebrities, the suit states. She also alleges in the complaint that she suspected bottles of alcohol were laced with drugs because women began to fall over themselves, panic or pass out after just one drink. 

Around Dec. 28, 2022, O’Marcaigh was informed that Christian Combs would be joining the party to record with music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in the yacht’s makeshift studio, the suit states. 

Christian Combs had been staying on shore at a villa, but often joined his father in the evenings, according to the suit. The woman’s suit alleges that he arrived “heavily intoxicated” and that he paid an inappropriate amount of attention to her. 

Christian then pressured O’Marcaigh to take shots of tequila that she believes he brought onboard, according to the suit.

After she took the shot, O’Marcaigh states in the lawsuit, Christian Combs became aggressive and insisted she drink more. 

O’Marcaigh became fearful and began to feel the effect of the tequila, which she “quickly suspected” had been spiked, the suit states. 

The situation “escalated” as Christian Combs groped O’Marcaigh’s legs, breast, anus and vagina, the suit states. The suit details audio recordings in which it states O’Marcaigh can be heard declining alcohol, saying she had to leave, and telling Christian Combs to stop touching her with what sounds like kissing noises in the background.

The audio was recorded by Jones, the producer who was in the studio during the alleged assault and who has alleged in his own lawsuit that he was required to record Sean Combs “constantly” and had hours of footage in which the music mogul and his staff allegedly engaged in criminal conduct. 

NBC News has heard two clips of audio transcribed in the suit purportedly from the night of Dec. 28, 2022, but has not verified who was recorded. 

“Excuse me, you don’t touch my legs like that. I’ll move my legs where I want to,” O’Marcaigh is heard saying in the recording detailed in the suit. “If I want to do this, then I will. You don’t touch my legs like that.” 

“Listen, you and everybody in the crew,” Christian Combs allegedly replies. 

“I can’t, I have to go down,” O’Marcaigh says. “I have to go down.”

Christian Combs then insists that O’Marcaigh stay with him, but she responds that she cannot unless he makes that request to a crew leader, the suit states, citing the audio recording. 

O’Marcaigh answered this way because she knew “anyone of authority” who could approve the request would be asleep and Christian Combs would not be able to contact them, the suit states. 

“Who can I talk to? I’m going to say I requested you right now,” Christian Combs said, according to the suit.  

“Well, you can take your hand off my ass for the first thing,” O’Marcaigh responded. 

O’Marcaigh then attempted to resume her duties and finish her shift once she was able to leave the studio, the suit states. Christian Combs allegedly found her a short time later and insisted she find him a place to sleep.

She directed him to the yacht cinema, which was used as an extra sleeping area, where he blocked her in, the suit states. 

Christian Combs allegedly began to grope her and took off his clothes. 

“His penis was erect, and he grabbed her arms and was trying to force PLAINTIFF to perform oral sex on him,” the suit states. 

The suit includes photos of bruising on O’Marcaigh’s forearm and alleges it was caused when Christian Combs grabbed her. 

O’Marcaigh fought him off until someone else walked in, according to the suit. 

Since the alleged attack

The alleged assault had a deep impact on O’Marcaigh’s mental health as well as her professional and personal lives, the suit said. When O’Marcaigh complained to the yacht captain the next day, the suit alleges, the captain did not believe her and failed to investigate.

She alleges that the captain retaliated against her until she was terminated in May 2023. 

Her mental health deteriorated, and the woman had anxiety and panic attacks as well as severe suicidal ideations, the suit said. O’Marcaigh alleges that the emotional strain affected her physical health and that she developed an eating disorder and epileptic seizures following the assault. 

She is seeking unspecified damages. 

"I am here to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves and I applaud Grace for being so brave to come forward with her truth," attorney Rodney S. Diggs said of his client. "Hopefully her story will inspire others to come forward."

Allegations and investigation 

O’Marcaigh’s suit is the first to accuse Christian Combs of sexual assault. Since November, his father, Sean Combs, has been accused in lawsuits of sexual assault by four women, which he has repeatedly denied. 

One of those suits has been settled , and the others have not been resolved.  

Jones, a producer who worked for Sean Combs from September 2022 to November 2023, alleged the rapper sexually harassed him, pressured him to engage in sexual acts and forced him to procure sex workers. He said he witnessed Sean Combs giving drinks laced with drugs to people at parties. 

An attorney for Combs said Jones’ “reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.”

On March 25, agents with Homeland Security Investigations searched Sean Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami. A source familiar with the investigation told NBC News that a federal investigation began before this year and that authorities were aware of the layout of Combs’ properties before the raids. 

During the searches last month, federal agents discovered guns and seized his phones as part of a warrant issued from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, law enforcement sources have said. Christian Combs was detained at his father’s Los Angeles home last month when Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant, but he was not arrested. 

Investigators are also looking into allegations of statutory rape against Sean Combs, the source said. 

NBC News previously reported that at least three women and one man have been interviewed by federal investigators in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms. 

Aaron Dyer, one of Combs’ attorneys, issued a statement following last month’s property searches and said that Combs “was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities.” He described the search as an ambush, saying there’s been a rush to judgment based on “meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

“There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations,” Dyer said. “Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”

Diana Dasrath reported from Los Angeles and Doha Madani reported from New York.

Diana Dasrath is entertainment producer and senior reporter for NBC News covering all platforms.

Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

Crime and Public Safety | Former owner of Atherton estate with mysterious…

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Crime and public safety | apple chops hundreds of silicon valley jobs in fresh tech layoffs, crime and public safety, crime and public safety | former owner of atherton estate with mysterious buried car has history of murder, sunken yacht, car found was stolen mercedes from 1992; neighbor complained years ago about “all that excavating”.

ATHERTON – A sunken yacht. Made-up mobsters. A history of murder. A neighbor who complained about “all that excavating.”

Police swarmed the grounds of a $15 million Atherton mansion on Friday where a landscaping crew dug up a buried Mercedes a day earlier and cadaver dogs hit on “possible human remains.” And as an investigation began to unfold, intriguing details of the home’s past owner were unearthed as well — but how it all fit together, no one could say.

Johnny Lew, who neighbors say bought the 12,000 square-foot French-style estate in the early 1990s on Stockbridge Avenue and died years ago, had a history of violence and skulduggery. In the 1960s, he was locked up on a second-degree murder conviction in Los Angeles that was overturned on a technicality and served time in the 1970s for two counts of attempted murder. In the late 1990s, he was arrested on insurance fraud after hiring what turned out to be undercover agents to sink his $1.2 million yacht off the Golden Gate that he said was an order from “his people” in an Asian mob, according to a Mercury News article in 1999.

Atherton Police said Friday that the car — buried four to six feet deep — was a convertible Mercedes Benz. It had been reported stolen from Palo Alto in 1992 and likely was buried not long after that. “The possible owner of the vehicle is believed to be deceased,” the police said in a news release Friday, without further explanation.

When the car was buried, the convertible top had been down, Atherton Police Commander Dan Larsen told reporters Friday afternoon. Dirt and unopened bags of concrete filled the vehicle, police said. On Friday morning, crews were seen in drone footage scooping out handfuls of dirt from the car. By noon, most of the passenger compartment had been emptied, and no human remains had been found. Still, “the cadaver dog again made a slight notification of possible human remains,” police said.

“It could be human remains. They could be reacting to blood. They could be reacting to old bones. They could be reacting to human vomit,” Larsen said of the cadaver dogs. “It could be any one of those combinations of things that the dogs are reacting to.”

Police are waiting to remove the vehicle from the pit and look under it before determining whether they are dealing with a crime scene.

They are also looking into the history of Lew but said they were reluctant to make any connection.

The mystery shocked neighbors in this tony Peninsula community, home to wealthy tech executives, developers and professional athletes, including Warriors great Stephen Curry and his family, who live two minutes away. In a bizarre coincidence, the estate on Stockbridge Avenue is just a block from another home connected to a notorious case involving another buried vehicle — the Chowchilla school bus hijacking. Two brothers who grew up on Stockbridge, the sons of a podiatrist, were convicted of kidnapping 25 Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver in 1976 and burying them alive in a tractor trailer in Livermore before escaping. They were in prison during the 1990s and released on parole over the last 10 years.

One neighbor, who lives nearly next door to the Stockbridge estate that’s on a flag lot, is Gary Dillabough, a former eBay executive whose ambitious plans to transform downtown San Jose with numerous commercial and residential projects are under way. He was in New York when the vehicle was unearthed Thursday, and his phone lit up with “50 text messages from my kids asking what’s going on.”

“It’s just such a weird, out-of-the-box thing,” he said. “It’s just hard to get your arms around. It’s like, maybe you bury people, but bury a car? It’s so stupid.”

Dillabough and his family haven’t lived on Stockbridge long enough to know Lew, but he remembers the house was on the market for an extra long time before the Lew family sold it in 2014 for $7.35 million. “We just heard whispers of people saying, ‘I think (he was) involved in some kind of illicit activities, offshore somewhere,’ ” Dillabough said.

Yet another family bought the house in 2020 for $15 million.

One neighbor, who has lived near the Stockbridge estate since the 1970s, said the property where the car was unearthed had been nothing but open land and a stable atop a small hill back then. When the home was built with a tennis court, construction crews shaved down the hilltop. She and her husband had complained about “all the digging up” but couldn’t say for sure if it was during the time the vehicle was buried.

The neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, said that she and her husband didn’t know Lew well but said, “He was a crook.”

He had a huge staff that helped run the estate, she said, and continued to live there for years. Lew moved to Washington state until his death at 77 in 2015.

Others walking through the hilly neighborhood Friday morning wondered what might be buried with that Mercedes.

“There’s a lot of stuff that was kept secret back then,” said Rich Hartnett, who lives nearby. “It was different, neighbors didn’t have cameras. You could do pretty much what you wanted and nobody would know.”

Cathy Consani, who lives several blocks away, “thought it was a joke” at first.

“I’m probably more shocked about the background of the guy who used to live there,” she said.

She’s not convinced a body will be found, but she has another hunch that brings full circle the mysterious motives of her former neighbor. “Personally,” she said, “I think he probably buried his Mercedes for the insurance money.”

Staff Writer Jason Green and researcher Veronica Martinez contributed to this story.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Youngest Son King Accused of Sexual Assault

A new lawsuit accuses King of sexually assaulting a woman named Grace O’Marcaigh, who worked on a yacht that Diddy chartered in 2022.

Amid Sean “Diddy” Combs ‘ sex trafficking investigation and lawsuits, his eldest son, Christian “King” Combs , is now facing sexual assault allegations. Grace O’Marcaigh has filed a lawsuit against the music producer’s 26-year-old kid, accusing him of assaulting her while she was working on a yacht that Combs, 54, chartered in 2022.

Per Us Weekly , O’Marcaigh claimed that Combs’ boat charter was  “sold as a wholesome family excursion,” but it became a “hedonistic environment.” In the lawsuit, King was also accused of sexual harassment and the infliction of emotional distress. Additionally, the lawsuit accused Combs of premises liability for chartering the yacht and for aiding and abetting his eldest song in the alleged assault against O’Marcaigh.

Diddy and King have not publicly responded to the lawsuit.

Less than two weeks ago, Diddy’s two homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by federal law enforcement. Homeland Security was investigating the rapper after “three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms,” per NBC News.

In response to the raids , Diddy’s lawyer Aaron Dyer provided a statement to multiple outlets, calling the raids “a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants.”

“There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated,” Dyer said. “This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits. There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”

Diddy’s investigation came amid a slew of sexual assault allegations. The first came late last year when Diddy’s ex Cassie Ventura accused him of rape , sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Some of her accusations against him included drugging her, “beating” her and forcing her to have sex with “male prostitutes.”

Shortly after filing the suit, Ventura and Diddy settled it. However, she is now reportedly cooperating with federal law enforcement amid her ex’s investigation.

If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the  National Sexual Assault Hotline  at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.

Former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis ‘humiliated’ and ‘ashamed’ after ‘brazen insider-trading scheme’

Inside the U.S. District courthouse off Pearl Street in Manhattan, courtroom 20C was filled to the brim on Thursday. More than 50 people had gathered by 3 p.m. local time to learn the fate of one man: 87-year-old British billionaire, Joe Lewis .

The once-powerful Lewis, now convicted of a “brazen insider-trading scheme” and barred from returning to the U.S., was sat at a table between his attorneys with a black patch over his right eye, and his small frame sinking into his chair. When Lewis entered the room, he clung to a man who held him steady. That same man had shielded Lewis from photos entering the courthouse, a sharp contrast to the man said to be of “impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment” who strode away wearing aviator sunglasses after initially denying the charges against him just 253 days earlier.

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In the eight months since, Lewis’ legal team argued his health has sharply declined.

Ultimately, this was the deciding factor in the court’s decision to spare Lewis prison time after he passed on confidential information on publicly-traded companies to his romantic partners, employees and friends. Instead, U.S. District Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke ordered him to three years’ probation and a $5million (£3.96m) fine. He planned to return to London on Thursday night to have surgery on his right eye as soon as possible, according to his attorney.

“You have before you a frail 87-year-old man with significant health challenges, whose conditions have only deteriorated since the indictment,” Lewis’ attorney, David M Zornow said.

In explaining her sentencing, Clarke said: “It is clear to me that Mr. Lewis’ life would be at serious risk if he were to be incarcerated.”

Lewis also briefly addressed the court. When he struggled to stand, the judge advised him he could address the court while seated.

“Your honor, I am here today because I made a terrible mistake,” Lewis said. “I broke the law. I’m ashamed. I’m sorry and I hold myself accountable.”

Attorneys stressed in court filings that Lewis “has been humiliated in the worldwide media, which has covered this case extensively” because of his ties to Tottenham Hotspur.

Lewis founded the company, ENIC, which owns 86.58 per cent of Tottenham and was the club’s owner from 2001 until he ceded “significant control” in October 2022, according to documents filed at the U.K.’s business registry, Companies House. Tottenham declined to comment on Thursday night.

Explained: Joe Lewis' insider trading sentence and what it means for Tottenham

Most of Lewis’ wealth comes from Tavistock Group, an investment organization he owns and founded. According to court filings, Tavistock’s portfolio includes Tottenham; communities and resort properties in Florida, the Bahamas and Jamaica; restaurant groups; and ownership interests in various private investment funds. He also has homes in several countries, his $250million yacht, a $90million aircraft, and an art collection worth $100million.

The fine will make little impact to a man worth about $6.2 billion, who is considered one of the 500 richest people in the world, although his company Broad Bay Ltd also pleaded guilty in January to participation in securities fraud and will pay $50million in financial penalties. But Lewis’ tip-offs were never about increasing his own vast personal wealth.

“It is clear that Lewis believed he was above the law, that he had achieved a level of wealth and stature that relieved him from having to operate by the same rules that apply to everyday investors,” wrote Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in the court filing.

Prosecutors said Lewis did not stand to benefit from the insider trading scheme he orchestrated, and financial gains were only realized by those with whom he shared confidential information. Their earnings “would have been trivial to him”, prosecutors said.

“The defendant did not need to do this. He has billions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Jason Richman said in court. “He chose to do this.”

The scheme was as elaborate as it was simple. Prosecutors said in court filings that Lewis “engaged in multiple instances of insider trading, over multiple years, on multiple continents, with multiple people”. Prosecutors began outlining his missteps in 2019.

Lewis owns about 80 per cent of the investment fund Boxer Capital, which makes investments in publicly-traded life science companies, and the billionaire insisted he received updates on investments made by the company and updates on clinical trials by certain companies he invested in. This is where the insider trading scheme started to brew.

In early 2019, when a monsoon caused significant flooding in Queensland, Australia, the Australian Agricultural Company was impacted, which Lewis had a majority stake in. Lewis later learned the damage would have a negative impact on the company’s stock, so he provided this confidential information to his personal pilots who also had invested in the company because they stood to lose money.

This type of exchange happened several times, with different companies and at the benefit of different people, according to prosecutors.

It happened again in 2019 with Solid Biosciences, a biotechnology company. Through Boxer, Lewis was a significant shareholder in the company and learned of a pending agreement with an investment bank, as well as a planned clinical trial. While visiting South Korea with his then-girlfriend, Lewis tipped her off to purchase stock. She then used all her funds to buy $700,000 worth of stock in the business. The following day, when flying on Lewis’ private plane, he recommended his pilots do the same.

These tips found their way to several of Lewis’ personal assistants and at least three other friends, including one he was romantically involved with and another he played poker with in Argentina, prosecutors said. In one instance, Lewis even loaned his pilots $500,000 each to use for insider trading, which they later returned to him.

“He was the single source of the misappropriated inside information, and he was the sole tipper at the heart of this vast network,” prosecutors said in court filings. “Put another way: without Lewis, no one else would have traded on insider information.”

Despite the gravity of Lewis’s insider trading, prosecutors said they, like the court, struggled with determining an appropriate sentence for an 87-year-old in failing health. In addressing the judge, Richman said the government “was not seeking, specifically, incarceration”.

Six doctors submitted letters to the judge in pre-sentencing submissions regarding Lewis’ health. Their messages were redacted from the public record for privacy, but attorneys for Lewis did say the businessman “is experiencing very significant problems with his right eye and needs surgery”. That surgery would happen with his doctor in London, Zornow stressed, which is why “Mr. Lewis is anxious to depart the U.S.”

Lewis also received leniency because he was cooperative with investigators from the beginning, the court said, and because he voluntarily surrendered in the United States upon being indicted, rather than go through extradition in the U.K., a process that could have taken years.

When Lewis learned of his indictment, he immediately travelled to New York to face the charges, his attorneys said. He was then released on a $300million bail, secured against his 98-metre superyacht and private aircraft, and remained in Florida.

Now that Lewis is on probation, his aircraft will be returned so he can self-deport. His attorneys said he planned to leave the U.S. by Thursday night. His yacht, the Aviva, remains held until fines are paid.

Given Lewis’ wealth, paying a fine is a low concern, with attorneys saying the billionaire had funds on standby with a lawyer in the Bahamas to ensure his dues with the court are paid as quickly as possible.

Though Lewis will not be returning to Clarke’s courtroom, this is where his pilots will be in coming months to face their consequences of this vast, alleged scheme.

When Lewis exited the courthouse on 500 Pearl Street, he again did so while being shielded from cameras, and even questions. He quietly entered a black car and slipped away, out of Manhattan and out of the U.S.

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)

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