Amir Bramly
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Amir Bramly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 4 October 1976 |
| Alma mater | University of Hartford |
| Occupation | Ponzi scheme operator. Investor. Asset Manager. |
| Known for | Founding and managing Rubicon business group (in dissolution) and Kela fund (in dissolution), former partner in Hagshama fund. |
| Spouse |
Daniella Bramly (m. 2000) |
Amir Bramly (Hebrew: אמיר ברמלי, alternative English: Amir Bramli) (born 4 October 1976) is an Israeli investor and businessman convicted of money laundering and fraud. He is the founder and former manager of Rubicon Business Group (in dissolution) and "Kela Fund" (in dissolution), and former partner in Hagshama fund. At the height of his career, Bramly controlled dozens of companies, and received intense media coverage both of his own dealings and as an interviewed expert.
Amidst allegations of his businesses being a ponzi scheme[1] Bramly's business empire was placed in permanent liquidation in January 2016,[2] and a court order prohibiting disposition of assets was placed on Bramly and members of his family.[3]
In October 2020, Bramly was convicted of money laundering, massive fraud, theft and other offenses.[4]
In February 2021 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[5]
Bramly grew up in Acre.[6] His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father a computer technician who after leaving Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, attempted to open an independent business, failed, and experienced financial hardship. Bramly claims that this early hardship provided much of his drive to enter the business world.
At the age of 16, Bramly opened his first business – a reptile workshop for schools. According to Bramly initially the workshop was not a success, but after he offered a lecture titled "Snake Safety Precautions in the Summer", every school to which he offered the workshop took him up. At the height of this business, Bramly employed 5 full-time instructors, one of whom drove Bramly around as he didn't have a driver's license, and earned more money from the business than his father and mother combined.
At the age of 18 Bramly closed the reptile instruction business in order to volunteer for a year in a Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel wilderness school, after which he enlisted in the Israeli Intelligence Corps.
Following his discharge from the IDF, Bramly set up a scuba diving instruction business in Eilat. According to Bramly he raised the 40,000 NIS initial capital required for the business by telling a different story to three different banks. He sold this business in 2000 for 1,000,000 NIS.
After this he met his future wife, and traveled around the world, settling for a time in a private island in Belize in which he managed a resort. Concurrently, he studied via correspondence business administration at University of Hartford. He returned to Israel with his wife when they were expecting their first child, settling in a farm in Ramot Naftali and opening a consulting business for small and medium-sized businesses.[7]
At some later date he moved to Zikhron Ya'akov.
2006 was a very difficult year for him. On a personal level his father died, and on the business front the 2006 Lebanon War nearly wiped him out financially, as most of his businesses were in the north of country and were affected by the war.[8] Bramly has said, however, that through hard work and perseverance he was able to bounce back.[9]
Business career 2007–2013
Rubicon Business Group
Rubicon Business Group was a personal holding company, owned wholly (100%) by Bramly, which Bramly managed actively. Most of Bramly's investments during this time period were performed via Rubicon. Rubicon invested in dozens of different companies. Some of these investments were a great success, for instance:
- Ezbob: Rubicon was one of the initial investors in 2011, and Amir Bramly served as Director of Global Risk in the company.[10]
- Wobi: An online insurance comparison site. Rubicon purchased 50% of the site in December 2012 for at a company valuation of 8-10 million NIS, subsequently increased its holdings to 75%[11] and exited the investment in May 2015 at a company valuation of 280 Million NIS.[12]
- "Silver": A consumer credit business, which provides payment splitting at the Israeli postal bank.[13][14]
However other investments such as a furniture business, restaurants, a hot air balloon,[15] and the trash recycling public company WTP which started out with lofty ambitions[16] and in 2014 had a peak traded value of 230 million NIS, but subsequently collapsed [17] were not as successful.
Many of Rubicon's investments were in highly visible consumer facing companies. Some businesses, such as an investment with Ram Samuel's, a retired international racing car driver, Advanced driving school,[18] or a string of joint culinary businesses with Michal Ansky involved local Israeli celebrities.[19] The celebrity links, the willingness to interview both on matters related to his business and as a general business expert, speeches and panel appearances in economic conventions, a stream of press releases, and paid promotional content in Israeli financial sites [20][21] led to a highly visible media presence that publicized Bramly's personal successes.
Kela Fund
Kela Fund was a marketing brand via which a number of private companies, all wholly owned by Rubicon, containing "Kela Fund" in their name, and managed by Amir Bramly, raised capital via internet and face to face marketing. Kela Fund offered investors 7.8% to 12% fixed interest rates, paid monthly, on an investment horizon of one to two years, after which the investor would be able to withdraw his principal after 90 days notice. Kela's use of these funds was presented to prospective investors as a very low-risk "Capital Completion" funding strategy in which funds were supposedly provided to businesses for 72 hours, backed with collateral, in order to secure loan financing from banks based on the capital.[22][23]
Kela raised capital mostly from retail investors with 100,000 NIS and up available for investment. Some of these investors invested all their life savings with Kela.[24] There were however some people of note who invested in the fund such as the lawyer Lipa Meir,[25] Danny Ayalon,[26] and culinary celebrity Michal Ansky[27] who invested more than one million NIS with Bramly in addition to their joint business dealings.
Most of the funds were raised from Israeli investors, however there were also some fund raising attempts in the United States via Kela Fund USA from October 2013 onward.[28][29]
Hagshama Fund
Hagshama Fund is a private company that organizes investment partnerships, typically with up to 35 investors per partnership. Bramly was a partner in Hagashama since its foundation in 2009 and until he sold his share at the end of 2013,[30] when at that point Hagshama managed 1.5 Billion NIS. Bramly actively marketed Hagshama during this time.
Whereas Kela was presented to potential investors as a very low risk investment for 1–2 years, Hagshama investments were portrayed as somewhat riskier Mezzanine capital investments in mostly Real Estate with an expected return of 20% per annum and an investment horizon of 2 to 5 years. Thus, Hagshama was in a sense a complementary investment offering to Kela.
During Bramly's involvement with Hagshama, Hagashama was portrayed by Bramly as Rubicon's real investment arm.[31] Lavish gala evenings for investors were held jointly for both Kela and Hagashma, in which Bramly and others delivered speeches.[32][33]
