Roys Poyiadjis
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London Business School
Roys Poyiadjis | |
|---|---|
 Poyiadjis in 2011 | |
| Born | 14 August 1965 Famagusta, Cyprus |
| Citizenship | Cypriot and British |
| Education | University of Kent London Business School |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, financier |
| Criminal charge | Securities fraud |
| Criminal penalty | $200 million |
Roys Poyiadjis (Greek: Ρόις Πογιατζής; born 14 August 1965) is a Greek Cypriot entrepreneur and financier. He is most notable for his role in the largest Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settlement with an individual, $200 million, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit security fraud.[1][2]
Poyiadjis was born in Cyprus, and on 14 August 1974, his ninth birthday, he and his family fled their homes in Famagusta as a result of Turkish invasion of Cyprus. They lived in a refugee camp.[3][4] He married Donna Florence Costanzo Poyiadjis in June 2000 and has two children.[5] Poyiadjis received a bachelor's degree in 1989 from the University of Kent in England[6] and an MBA from the London Business School in 1993. In 1988, he won the gold medal in the British Universities Boxing Championships[7] in the Light Heavyweight division.[8]
Poyiadjis worked for Morgan Stanley Co. and Lehman Brothers International Ltd between 1993 and 1996 in the United Kingdom.[6] He later formed a merchant bank called Alpha Capital, which focused on funding technology companies.[3][6]
According to Forbes magazine, in 1997 Poyiadjis met Lycourgos Kyprianou, a fellow Greek Cypriot with a software company called AremisSoft. Poyiadjis invested $7 million in AremisSoft in October 1997 and helped Kyprianou secure another $12 million of financing in March 1998. The company went public on Nasdaq in April 1999. Poyiadjis, became president and vice-chairman in 1998, and became CEO in 2000 (Kyprianou became chairman and chief technology officer). By August 2000, Poyiadjis and Kyprianou owned about 30% of the company, and in Feb. 2001, they became co-chief executive officers.[3] Irwin L. Jacobs was one of AremisSoft's largest shareholders.[9] Poyiadjis resigned from AremisSoft on 30 September 2001.[10]
In 2005 Poyiadjis founded Platinum Capital Partners, Inc a holding company for the Poyiadjis Family Office with investment activities primarily focused in technology, private equity, real estate, and special situations.[11]
In 2014, Poyiadjis and Martua Sitorus, the co-founder of Wilmar International formed a partnership to create the largest biofuel power plant in Japan. The plant's 20-year feed-in tariff is valued at US$1.5 billion. In 2012, Poyiadjis began a venture to build the first independent power producer on the Island of Cyprus. But due to the Greek and Cypriot economic crisis, the project changed course resulting in a biofuel power plant in Japan.[12][13][14][15]
Roys Poyiadjis, along with an art historian and another Cypriot businessman, were responsible for the repatriation of the mosaic of St. Andrew in 2018. The mosaic was a work of art stolen from the church of Panagia Kanakaria in 1975.[16][17]
In April 2018 Poyiadjis submitted an investment offer to acquire the Omonia FC. On 24 May 2018, he decided to withdraw his offer to acquire Omonia, stating that in his opinion the acquisition process lacked transparency and the Omonia FC board had already predetermined the outcome in favor of Stavros Papastavrou before the general assembly vote.[18][19][20]
