Henry Liebman
{{Short description|American attorney and businessman}}
{{for|the German-American brewer|Henry Liebmann}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Henry Liebman
|image =
|image_upright =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|9|5}}
|birth_place =
|nationality = American
|education = B.A., political science – University of Washington (1973)
J.D. – University of Puget Sound (1980)
|occupation = real estate investor, attorney
}}
Henry Goodman Liebman (born September 5, 1951) is an American attorney and businessman from Seattle, Washington. Through his company, American Life, Liebman controls a large section of Seattle's industrial SoDo area and has been described as the neighborhood's "900 pound gorilla". Henry Liebman's Noodle Soup, a dish at SoDo's Orient Express restaurant, is named in his honor.
Early life and education
Originally from Florida, Henry Liebman moved to Seattle in 1970 to attend the University of Washington, receiving his undergraduate degree in political science from there in 1973. After a brief stint as a tapestry salesman, he earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Puget Sound in 1980.{{cite news|last1=Young|first1=Bob|title=One buyer, 40 acres: a quiet revolution in Sodo|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20070720/liebman20m/one-buyer-40-acres-a-quiet-revolution-in-sodo|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Seattle Times|page=A1|date=July 20, 2007}}
Career
=Early career=
According to Liebman, he early worked as a tax specialist for Touche Ross and Company before moving to practice law at, first, Franklin and Watkins and, then, Franco, Asia, Bensussen.{{cite book|last1=Liebman|first1=Henry|title=Getting Into America: The Immigration Guide to Finding a New Life in the USA|date=2004|publisher=How To Books|isbn=1857039149|page=x}} As a partner at Liebman-Mimbu and Coe-Nordwall-Liebman, Liebman added immigration and real estate law to his practice.{{cite web|title=Henry Liebman|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=78968690&privcapId=34761758|website=bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg|accessdate=January 20, 2018}} During this time he also founded Northwest International Bank, and served on its board of directors.
=American Life=
In 1996 Liebman founded American Life, a company that facilitates EB-5 visas, a U.S. government program which offers green cards to non-U.S. citizens willing to invest $1 million or more into American businesses. Under the American Life business model, its clients would invest money in Seattle real estate and receive 70 percent of the returns their investments generated from rent, with American Life keeping the rest. By the early 2000s, through American Life, Liebman controlled large swaths of real estate in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, a fact which reportedly made city officials, area businesses, and labor leaders "nervous".{{cite news|last1=Richman|first1=Dan|title=Foreign investments in Sodo raise questions|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Foreign-investments-in-Sodo-raise-questions-1245260.php|accessdate=January 20, 2018|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|date=July 31, 2007}} In 2007, Knute Berger described Liebman as the "900 pound gorilla" of SoDo.{{cite news|last1=Berger|first1=Knute|title=Growth is not a force of nature|url=http://crosscut.com/2007/08/growth-is-not-force-nature/|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=Crosscut.com|date=August 6, 2007}} By 2011, Liebman's company had brought in $700 million in foreign real estate investments into Seattle.{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Jeanne|title=Liebman's empire|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/print-edition/2011/12/02/commercial-real-estate-liebmans-empire.html|accessdate=January 20, 2018|work=Puget Sound Business Journal|date=December 2, 2011}} In 2016 American Life was fined $1 million for using unlicensed advisers to direct aspiring EB-5 applicants into Liebman projects; Liebman himself was fined $240,000.{{cite web|title=File No. 3-17285|url=https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2016/34-78042.pdf|website=sec.gov|publisher=Securities and Exchange Commission|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Mike|title=Seattle developer fined $1.2M over immigrant-visa fundraising|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-developer-fined-12m-over-immigrant-visa-fundraising/|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=The Seattle Times|date=June 15, 2016}} As part of the settlement, neither American Life nor Liebman admitted wrongdoing.
Personal life
Liebman is chief executive officer of the Washington State Panda Foundation, which leads efforts to import giant pandas into Washington state for exhibition purposes. The project requires a ten-year panda renting agreement at $1,000,000 per year.{{cite web|title=WASHINGTON STATE PANDA FOUNDATION|url=https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/#/BusinessSearch/BusinessInformation|website=Corporations and Charities Filing System|publisher=Washington Secretary of State|accessdate=January 19, 2018}}{{cite news|title=Pandas to Washington?|url=http://nwasianweekly.com/2016/10/pandas-to-washington/|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=Northwest Asian Weekly|date=October 24, 2016}}
A dish called "Henry Liebman's Noodle Soup" is a menu item at the Seattle Chinese restaurant The Orient Express.{{cite news|last1=Seely|first1=Mike|title=SoDo's Orient Express Hopes for Another Trainwreck|url=http://archive.seattleweekly.com/home/912472-129/bottomfeeder|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=Seattle Weekly|date=September 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430083812/http://archive.seattleweekly.com/home/912472-129/bottomfeeder|archive-date=April 30, 2018|url-status=dead}} Named in tribute to Liebman, it was described by the Seattle Weekly as "the most mysterious dish" on the restaurant's menu. However, Liebman himself has said he hates the soup.{{cite news|last1=Leson|first1=Nancy|title=History in a railcar: My lunch at the old Andy's Diner|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/history-in-a-railcar-my-lunch-at-the-old-andys-diner/|accessdate=January 20, 2018|work=The Seattle Times|date=January 22, 2009}}
In 2013, Liebman caught what was believed to be a 200-year-old shortraker rockfish while fishing in Alaska. The catch was heralded by media as the oldest rockfish ever caught.{{cite news|last1=Barber|first1=Elizabeth|title=200-year-old rockfish caught off Alaska coast|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0703/200-year-old-rockfish-caught-off-Alaska-coast|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=July 3, 2013}}{{cite news|last1=Lallanila|first1=Marc|title=Rockfish of ages: Caught off Alaska, it's 200 years old|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/science/rockfish-ages-caught-alaska-its-200-years-old-6C10521604|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=NBC News|date=July 2, 2013}} It was later, however, dated to 64 years of age.{{cite news|title=Buzzworthy|url=http://projects.registerguard.com/rg/sports/outdoors/30135650-80/caught-liebman-record-rockfish-age.html.csp|accessdate=January 19, 2018|work=Eugene Register-Guard|date=July 16, 2013}}{{cite news|last1=Edmonson|first1=Rubie|title=UPDATE: 200-year-old fish is actually just middle-aged|url=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/07/update-200-year-old-fish-rockfish|accessdate=February 24, 2018|work=USA Today|date=July 9, 2013}}
References
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Category:Businesspeople from Seattle
Category:American real estate and property developers
Category:University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni