Robert Agostinelli Biography

Robert Frank Agostinelli (born May 21, 1953) is an American self made billionaire financier who is the chairman and co-founder of private equity firm Rhône Group. Forbes estimates Agostinelli's net worth to be $1.0 billion, ranking him as the 416th richest American. Agostinelli was also ranked #124 amongst the richest people in the United Kingdom by the Sunday Times Rich List in 2012 and 2013 with a net worth of £650 million.

Early life and education

Agostinelli was born to Italian immigrant parents outside of Rochester, New York, and attended the Aquinas Institute. He went on to obtain his BA from St. John Fisher College in 1976 and then attended Columbia University where he received his MBA, graduated with highest honours in 1981 and sits on the Alumni Board returning regularly to give speeches. Agostinelli is also a certified public accountant.

Career

Agostinelli began his career in financial services at the Investment Bank Jacob Rothschild from 1981 to 1982 and then joined Goldman Sachs and became a senior partner where he worked for five years and founded the firm's international mergers and acquisitions business in London and was involved in a number of the largest transactions in European takeover history. Agostinelli left for Lazard Frères to become a senior partner in New York from 1987 until leaving in 1995. After which, Agostinelli and fellow partner Steven Langman, started their own firm, the Rhône Group.

Politics and philanthropy

Agostinelli is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a leading supporter of Zionist and neoconservative causes. He is one of the Founding Members of the Friends of Israel Initiative. He is former Vice-Chairman of the Council of the United States and Italy, as well as a member of the Investment Committee of Corporate World Opportunities of BSI Group / Generali Group, and a director and advisor to a number of European and U.S. philanthropic and civic institutions. In 2008 Agostinelli provided substantial funding to the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

Agostinelli is a friend of both former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Spanish Prime Minister José Aznar. In 2007 President Sarkozy admitted to Le Monde that Agostinelli, his wife and another family had paid the $60k per week fee on a luxury villa for him and his family during his 2006 holiday to the United States. Agostinelli has often been seen jogging with Sarkozy.

He is also a senior member of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation led by The American Patriots Campaign Cabinet, and a senior board director on the American Italian Cancer Foundation. Agostinelli is on the board of directors of the National Review Institute. Agostinelli is also known for writing articles in the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times on various political, economic and social issues. Agostinelli was listed in 1997 as a member of the Bilderberg Group.

In August 2011 Agostinelli gave a speech in the Mahan Reading room at the U.S Naval War College, where he discussed the potential implications that policy decisions made in response to the 2008 financial crisis could have on U.S. national security. Arguing against Government decisions to pick winners and losers, he predicted that failure to allow companies to go bankrupt could have pernicious effects on long-term U.S. economic growth, which could lead to unprecedented intrusions into the freedom of American citizens. Agostinelli also warned that deficit spending is giving China increased influence over American affairs, with possible implications for national security.

Friends of Israel Initiative

José Maria Aznar, President Shimon Peres, John R. Bolton and Agostinelli in July 2011]] A delegation of the Friends of Israel Initiative, which included Agostinelli, met with President Shimon Peres at Beit HaNassi in Jerusalem in July 2011. The delegation included former Spanish Prime Minister José Aznar, former US Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord David Trimble. The president held a working meeting with the group and presented an overview of the situation in Israel and the region at large. Agostinelli stated: "Israel is a fundamentally important part of the Western world. It is a democracy under fire, and we must be resolute in defense of its legitimacy."

The Last Tycoons

In William D. Cohan's book The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co., Agostinelli is described as "suave, sophisticated, energetic international financier with extravagant tastes and slicked-back jet-black hair, who pretended to speak Italian but could not." Cohan mentions how Agostinelli played a pivotal role in building Lazard, but for the most part Agostinelli is critiqued.

In Chapter 14, entitled "It's A White Man's World", Agostinelli is further portrayed as "flamboyant Agostinelli, who had taken to having a gourmet chef prepare his meals for his overseas first-class flights and having Frette sheets FedExed to his hotel rooms in advance of his arrival. - His American Express bills were said to be on the order of $200,000 a month.

John Washington

In July 2006, one of Agostinelli's Rhone Group associates was in Les Caves du Roy night club in Saint-Tropez, France when he was attacked by a man named John Washington. The associate was left in a coma but awoke one week later, while a nationwide manhunt was underway for Washington. In a press release, Washington's lawyer stated that he was being prosecuted unfairly because of direct pressure applied by Agostinelli due to his close relationship to Nicolas Sarkozy. An international arrest warrant was issued when Washington was tracked down, and he was extradited back to France from the U.S and sentenced to 5 years in prison and to pay £50,000. In a phone message Washington's lawyer played in court, Agostinelli says: "John, I want you to remember my name because you are going to remember it all your life!... the hunting dogs are after you ... they will transform your life into a puff of smoke!"

Personal life

Agostinelli has 4 children.

Associated publications

• Bowing to Beijing, by Brett M. Decker and William C. Triplett II. (2011)

• The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire, by H. W. Crocker III. (2011)

• The Last Tycoons, by William D. Cohan. (2007)

See also

• List of private equity firms