The late Joseph Safra, right, and his wife Vicky. (Credit: YouTube screenshot)
The late Joseph Safra, a Brazilian billionaire of Lebanese heritage said to have been the world’s richest banker, might be turning over in his grave. One of his three sons, Alberto, announced Monday that he’s filed a lawsuit against his mother, Vicky, and brothers David and Jacob.
The New York State Supreme Court will have to rule in this inheritance case, in which Alberto accuses family members of “purposely diluting his stake in a holding company of Safra National Bank in an effort to oust him from the family empire,” Reuters reported.
Ranked 5th on Forbes’ 2022 list of Brazil’s richest people, Alberto Safra has a fortune worth 38.9 billion reals ($ 7.49 billion). In late 2019, after a dispute with his brother David, he resigned from the board of directors of Banco Safra, which is part of Safra Group.
The disagreement dates from 2008 when David joined elder brother Alberto at the helm of the Brazilian bank.
In a statement reported by Reuters this week, the billionaire said that he “had no choice but to file a lawsuit” “to protect his rights” “due to illegal and aggressive acts committed by his brothers.”
According to the American press, the feud dates back to December 2019 when Vicky Safra “conspired” with Jacob, her eldest son, and David, her youngest, against Alberto in order to reduce his shares in SNBNY Holdings, which today has a capital of nearly $1 billion, from “28 to 13.4 percent.” These moves were allegedly made while the family “abused” Joseph Safra’s “deteriorating health” due to Parkinson’s disease. A year later, in December 2020, the family patriarch died at the age of 82, allowing the conflict to unfold.
In response to Alberto’s claims, the family issued a statement saying the Safra family “regrets the path taken by Alberto,” accusing him of instigating the feud when his father was still alive, and now of acting “against his memory.”
Denying Alberto’s allegations, a family spokesman said that Joseph Safra “deliberately disinherited his son from the will,” or at least reduced his stake, as stated in the lawsuit.
Brazil’s richest man
A member of Lebanon’s Jewish community, Joseph Safra was born in Beirut in 1938 to a family of Syrian bankers. He moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1953 to consolidate the banking legacy founded by his brothers, Edmond and Moïse, who died the following year.
The Safra Group has since become a financial empire, with interests in more than 25 countries. The Safra Group’s Lebanon legacy is the National Credit Bank.
According to Forbes, Joseph Safra was the richest man in Brazil and the world’s 39th-richest person, with an estimated wealth of $25.5 billion in 2020, up from $19.9 billion in 2019.
In addition to Banco Safra in Brazil and J. Safra Sarasin in Switzerland, Joseph Safra owned 50 percent of the agribusiness company Chiquita Brands.
Safra donated part of his wealth to medical research projects. He purchased sculptures by Auguste Rodin for the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, one of the city’s principal museums.
His Greek-born wife, Vicky, has an estimated wealth of $7.3 billion, according to Forbes’ latest update Friday, while Forbes’ said his four children share an estimated inheritance of $7.1 billion dollars.
In 1999, Joseph Safra’s brother, Edmond, died from smoke inhalation when one of his nurses set fire to his Monaco apartment. This made headlines at the time in the principality, which is purportedly unfamiliar with such stories.
This story originally ran in French in L’Orient-Le Jour, translated by Joelle Khoury.
