Joe Berardo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Rodrigues and the second or paternal family name is Berardo.

Joe Berardo

GCIH, ComIH
Born
José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo

(1944-07-04) 4 July 1944 (age 79)[1]
Santa Luzia, Madeira, Portugal
Occupation(s)Businessman, investor, and art collector
Spouse
Carolina da Conceição Gonçalves
​
​
(m. 1969)​
Children2
RelativesIlse Everlien Berardo (sister-in-law)
Rubina Berardo (niece)

José Manuel Rodrigues "Joe" Berardo GCIH, ComIH (born 4 July 1944), is a Portuguese and South African businessman, investor, and art collector. According to Portuguese magazine Exame, he had an estimated net worth of €598 million in 2010, making him one of the wealthiest people in Portugal at the time.[2] Starting around the 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis when both the Portuguese Republic finances and banking system collapsed, he has been involved in several controversies and legal issues which have led to the arrestment of his bank accounts, his companies' assets and himself due to ongoing legal investigations.

Life

Early life

Berardo was born in 1944 at Santa Luzia, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, the son of Manuel Berardo Gomes and Ana Rodrigues. Berardo left school when he was 13 years old and got a low-ranked job in the winery sector of Madeira wine. At the age of 18, he emigrated to South Africa where he worked in horticulture distribution and eventually set up large commercial ventures, becoming at the end of the 20th century one of the most renowned and wealthiest Portuguese entrepreneurs. In South Africa, he created Egoli Consolidated Mines Ltd, a gold extraction company. Initially, the gold extraction was performed using low-value waste lands that were apparently being ignored. Later, the mining company started to deal with diamond mining as well. Berardo returned to Portugal in 1986.[3]

Return to Portugal

As a very wealthy

media frenzy it generated at times. His businesses included hotels, tobacco, animal food, telecommunications, banking and wines. Berardo's estimated total wealth, including stock in large Portuguese banking and telecommunications companies, was at a time at over €1.9 billion.[3]

Berardo made long-term investments in large companies such as

Sonae.com telecommunications operator at the time) to the investor Berardo and PT's administrators Zeinal Bava and Henrique Granadeiro, failed.[3]

In June 2007, Berardo made a bid for 60% of

free float of publicly traded stock that was issued in the stock market in May 2007. Berardo, who is a paying member of S.L. Benfica (sócio) and a declared supporter of the club, failed to become the largest individual stockholder in the club's S.A.D., since only about 1% of the intended stock was sold to him as of the 20 August 2007 deadline.[citation needed
]

After his failed attempt to bid on Benfica, Berardo refocused his attention on his hometown club Club Sport Marítimo, of which has also declared his support for and is a registered member also. On 17 November 2007, during the club's 97th anniversary celebration, he was honoured with a silver medal to commemorate his 25 years as a Marítimo member.[6] He used the occasion to announce his interest in the clubs' new stadium plans, the Estádio do Marítimo, and offer his aid as a "supporter with passion" for the club.[7]

Art collection

Berardo is one of the leading contemporary art collectors in Portugal. An inveterate collector, he started as a schoolboy with stamps, postcards and matchboxes, and later transitioned to modern and contemporary art in the 1980s. His various collections, which include art deco and Chinese porcelain, encompass more than 40,000 works, of which some 1,200 are by well-known modern and contemporary artists with a reported value of $750 million.[8] Much of his art collection has in the past been used as collateral to borrow from banks.[8]

Berardo went public with his collection in 1997, displaying works at an old casino in Sintra, and then at the

Bamiyan in 2001, he bought a massive range of Buddhist statues, and created the Buddha Eden Gardens (about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon).[9] In 2011, Berardo set up the Aliança Underground Museum, a paid (5€ minimum) exhibition of tiles, ethnographic art, ceramics, minerals and fossils in an unused tunnel on a winemaker's property in Sangalhos.[9] In 2012, an exhibition of works from Berardo's Modern and contemporary collection, including pieces by Gerhard Richter, Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol, was on show at the Gary Nader Art Centre in Miami, Florida.[13]

Controversies and legal issues

Throughout his life, Berardo has been related to several controversial situations that have reached the media:

CGD Affair

Arrest

In June 2021, Berardo became a named suspect (

Polícia Judiciária for alleged fraud committed against the bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) and a number of other financial crimes.[27]

Honours and awards

National honours

Disciplinary procedure

Under the CGD affair, the Portuguese Orders National Council was convened on 17 May 2019, presided by Manuela Ferreira Leite, to initiate a disciplinary procedure on whether the President of the Republic should or not strip Berardo from the ranks of the Order of Prince Henry.[29] The Council's President appointed the former President of the Assembly of the Republic, Mota Amaral, to lead the investigation related to disciplinary procedure, which included collection of written and audio material from the Portuguese parliament's CDG Affair inquiry committee.[30][31] The disciplinary procedure results are expected to be presented to Portuguese Orders National Council on 20 December 2019.[32]

Since the disciplinary procedure was initiated, Berardo has publicly apologized for his conduct during the Assembly of the Republic's inquiry.[citation needed]

See also

  • Novo Banco

References

  1. ^ "The collector". Museu Coleção Berardo. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. ^ Top ten richest people in Portugal Archived 31 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine in Exame (in Portuguese)
  3. ^ a b c Biography of José Berardo Archived 2007-07-03 at the Wayback Machine, in Diário Económico (in Portuguese)
  4. ^ Duarte, Pedro (15 June 2007). "Joe Berardo lança OPA para controlar Benfica" [Joe Berardo launches takeover bid to control Benfica]. Diário Económico (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  5. ^ Duarte, Pedro (15 June 2013). "OPA incide sobre 60% do capital da SAD do Benfica" [Takeover bid focuses on 60% of Benfica SAD's capital]. Diário Económico (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 25 December 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  6. ^ Berardo vai receber medalha de 25 anos de sócio Archived 2007-11-18 at the Wayback Machine, article in Jornal Record, 17 November 2007 (in Portuguese)
  7. ^ Berardo quer ajudar Archived 2007-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, article in Jornal Record, 19 November 2007 (in Portuguese)
  8. ^ a b c d Colin Gleadel (13 September 2010), Jose Berardo interview for Vilamoura sculpture park in the Algarve The Daily Telegraph.
  9. ^
    New York Times
    .
  10. ^ "The foundation was created by Decree-Law 164/2006 of 9 August". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (from the Ministry of Culture) accessible from the search engine for the Diário da República, the Portuguese Government's official gazette. (in Portuguese)
  11. ^ Vernon Silver and Anabela Reis (3 February 2010), Billionaire Whistle-Blower Loses $730 Million Alleging Fraud Bloomberg.
  12. ^ Gareth Harris (1 January 2013), Portuguese billionaire adds works inspired by Bamiyan Buddhas to his vast sculpture park Archived 2013-01-15 at the Wayback Machine The Art Newspaper.
  13. ^ Gareth Harris (8 December 2012), Miami Beach could get even more Art Deco The Art Newspaper.
  14. ^ Vuuren, Hennie van (2006). ""Apartheid Grand Corruption: Assessing the scale of crimes of profit in South Africa from 1976 to 1994"". Information Portal on Corruption in Africa. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  15. ^ "Análise ao Caso BCP". SIC. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  16. ^ "Expresso | Banca salva Berardo da falência". Jornal Expresso (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  17. ^ Campos, Anabela; Lima, Pedro (1 August 2008). "Berardo, a arte da dívida" (PDF). Exame. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  18. ^ Oliveira, José Manuel (11 February 2008). "Berardo ganha 14 milhões com quinta em Alvor". Diário de Notícias. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  19. ^ Rosa, Luís (25 June 2010). "Filipe Pinhal ao ataque!" (PDF). Semanário Sol. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Joe Berardo está falido: CGD, BES e BCP desistiriam de cobrar dívidas ao empresário". www.dnoticias.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  21. ^ "Bancos tentam cobrar 980 milhões de dívida de Joe Berardo". www.sabado.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  22. ^ Reis, Rodolfo Alexandre (8 April 2019). "Bancos avançam com processo contra Joe Berardo para liquidar dívida de 980 milhões". O Jornal Económico (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  23. ^ "BCP, Novo Banco e CGD avançam com processo contra Joe Berardo por dívida de 980 milhões". JM Madeira (in European Portuguese). 8 April 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  24. ^ Botelho, Leonete. "Declarações de Berardo na comissão de inquérito vão chegar ao Ministério Público". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  25. ^ Observador; Observador. "Tribunal arresta duas casas a Joe Berardo no valor de 4 milhões de euros". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  26. ^ Cardoso, Francisco José. "Arresto de bens de Berardo confirmado". www.dnoticias.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  27. ^ Berardo arrested for fraud committed against Caixa Geral de Depósitos https://econews.pt/2021/06/29/berardo-arrested-for-fraud-against-caixa-geral-de-depositos/
  28. ^ a b "Cidadãos Nacionais Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  29. ^ Adam, Leonete Botelho, Mariana. "Conselho da Ordens decide na sexta-feira se tira condecorações a Berardo". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 16 May 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ RTP, RTP, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal-. "Mota Amaral lidera processo relativo a condecorações de Berardo". www.rtp.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "Condecorações de Joe Berardo decididas em dezembro". Semanario SOL (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  32. ^ "Já há decisão sobre as condecorações de Joe Berardo". JM Madeira (in European Portuguese). 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
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