Pincus Green

Biography

Green was born to an Orthodox Jewish family, the seventh of eight children, and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn. His father was a distributor of confectionaries. As a youth, Green attended Jewish parochial schools but dropped out of high school to support his family when he was 16. In 1953, at the age of 17, he got a job working the mailroom at the commodity trading firm, Philipp Brothers. In 1954, Philipps hired Marc Rich in the mailroom and they soon became friends. Both quickly advanced in the company and eventually became top traders in Europe especially in oil trading, Rich in Spain and Green in the Phillips' office in Zug. In 1974, they left Philipp Brothers to form their own company, Marc Rich AG, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.

Green fled the United States in 1983, along with partner Marc Rich, after being indicted by U.S. Attorney and future mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani, on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Soon after fleeing, they sold the U.S. affiliate of Marc Rich AG (renamed Clarendon Ltd) to Alec Hackel, a partner to Green and Rich. U.S. legal authorities determined that the sale was false and froze the assets of the company, which hurt Marc Rich AG's trading volume. In 1984, Clarendon paid the U.S. government $150 million to settle tax charges and Mark Rich AG's trading volume recovered. The three partners divided their responsibilities with Rich trading oil, Hackel trading metals and minerals, and Green, responsible for shipping, finance, and administration.

Green received a controversial presidential pardon along with Rich, from United States President Bill Clinton in 2001. It has been reported that Green has been in retirement since he underwent heart surgery in late 1990.

In 2005, his net worth was estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.2 billion USD.