Ian Maxwell
{{Short description|British businessman (born 1956)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ian Maxwell
| birth_date = {{bya|1956}}
| birth_place = Maisons-Laffitte, France
| nationality = British
| alma_mater = University of Oxford
| occupation = Business
| parents = Robert Maxwell
Elisabeth Maxwell
| relatives = Kevin Maxwell (brother)
Christine Maxwell (sister)
Isabel Maxwell (sister)
Ghislaine Maxwell (sister)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Laura Marie Plumb|1991|1996|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Tara Dudley Smith|1999}}
}}
}}
Ian Maxwell (born 1956) is a British businessman and co-founder of the think tank Combating Jihadist Terrorism. In the 1990s, Maxwell was acquitted of charges of criminal financial malpractice relating to the business practices of his father, publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell.{{Cite web|last=Rogers|first=Taylor Nicole|date=6 July 2020|title=A death in the Atlantic, a media empire that once had $4 billion in debt, and a yacht named Lady Ghislaine: Take a look at Ghislaine Maxwell's family history|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-father-epstein-family-history-yacht-images-2019-8|access-date=14 July 2020|work=Business Insider}}
Early life and education
Maxwell, born 1956 in Maisons-Laffitte, France, is the son of Elisabeth (née Meynard), a French-born scholar, and Robert Maxwell, a Czechoslovak-born media mogul.{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1220335.stm | title=Kevin and Ian Maxwell | publisher=BBC | work=BBC News Online | date=2001-03-29}} His father was Jewish and his mother was a French Protestant of Huguenot descent.[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/15/garden/at-lunch-with-elisabeth-maxwell-questions-without-answers.html New York Times: "AT LUNCH WITH: Elisabeth Maxwell; Questions Without Answers" By ALEX WITCHEL] 15 February 1995 He is one of nine siblings, of which two died in childhood. These include sisters Isabel, Christine, Anne and Ghislaine, and brother Kevin. The family moved to Headington Hill Hall in 1960.
Ian Maxwell was educated at Summer Fields School, Marlborough College and Oxford University.
Career
Maxwell's first involvement in his father's business was at Pergamon Press from 1978 to 1983. After a short time at the Prince's Charitable Trust, he rejoined the Maxwell business, this time at British Printing and Communications Corporation (later renamed Maxwell Communications Corporation).{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/5/newsid_2514000/2514649.stm|title=1991: Publisher Robert Maxwell dies at sea|date=1991-11-05|work=On This Day|access-date=2007-02-07|publisher=BBC News}} In 1991, it was reported that Maxwell worked for The European.
Ian Maxwell was appointed chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers plc (MGN) following the death of his father on 5 November 1991.{{cite news|title = MGN continues to achieve 'highly satisfactory' results: Ian Maxwell|work = AFX News|publisher = AFP-Extel News|date = 1991-11-07}} For the next month, the group was the subject of speculation regarding its financial position. On 3 December 1991, Maxwell and his brother Kevin resigned from the board of Maxwell Communication Corporation and nine hours later resigned from MGN, following the disclosure that "many million" of pounds had been transferred from the Mirror Group pension fund to Robert Maxwell's private companies apparently without due authority.{{cite news|last1= Nisse|first1=Jason|last2=Waterhouse|first2=Rosie|title= Maxwells quit Mirror board; Serious Fraud Office set to investigate transfer of pension funds to firms controlled by Robert Maxwell|work=The Independent|publisher= Independent News & Media|page= 1|date=4 December 1991}} MGN announced: "Because of increasing conflicts of interest, Ian Maxwell, chairman and publisher of MGN, Kevin Maxwell, and Michael Stoney, who has a major management involvement in the Maxwell private companies, have today resigned from the board of MGN and its subsidiaries and have also ceased their executive duties in the MGN Group."
On 19 June 1992, Ian Maxwell, Kevin Maxwell, and their financial advisor Larry Trachtenberg were arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud others of millions of dollars.{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-19-fi-530-story.html|title=Maxwell's 2 Sons Arrested on Fraud Charges|last=Touey|first=William|date=June 19, 1992|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 28, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/06/19/maxwells-sons-arrested-on-fraud-theft-charges/c689df86-ea1c-4234-b3e4-081a220d0331/|title=Maxwell's Sons Arrested on Fraud, Theft Charges|last=MacAskill|first=Ewan|date=June 19, 1992|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 29, 2020}} In January 1996, all three were acquitted.{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-way-is-still-clear-for-a-tyrant-and-a-fraud-1324867.html|title=The way is still clear for a tyrant and a fraud|date=1996-01-20|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}
In 1995, Maxwell was involved with Maximov Publications, a company with a focus on content about Russia and the Soviet Union's former republics.
The Scotsman reported in 2001 that Maxwell was a director of 31 companies and also worked for Westbourne Communications, a public relations firm which represented Telemonde.{{Cite web|title=Misery in the maxwell house|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/misery-maxwell-house-2510066|last=|first=|date=16 November 2001|website=The Scotsman|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01}}
Maxwell announced in September 2018 that he and his brother Kevin had founded a UK think tank, Combating Jihadist Terrorism (CoJit), with the aim of better understanding terrorism and its causes.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/09/robert-maxwells-sons-say-tycoon-was-to-meet-boe-the-day-he-died|title=Robert Maxwell was to meet Bank official the day he died, say sons|last=Davies|first=Caroline|date=September 9, 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=July 22, 2019}} As of 2020, Maxwell was CoJit's director.
Personal life
In 1991, Maxwell married Laura Marie Plumb, a television executive, born in Chicago, currently a Vedic scholar and practitioner of Ayurveda, Jyotish, and yoga.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12027489.three-loyal-and-brave-women-who-stood-by-the-brothers/|title=Three loyal and brave women who stood by the brothers|website=HeraldScotland|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://lauraplumb.com/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=lauraplumb.com |language=en}} They announced their separation in 1996, and the pair later divorced. Maxwell remarried in 1999 to Tara Dudley Smith.
In March 2021, Maxwell expressed concern about the welfare in a US prison of his sister Ghislaine who was then awaiting trial on criminal charges relating to her association with Jeffrey Epstein.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/ghislaine-maxwells-brother-insists-treated-presumed-innocent-epstein/story?id=76450296|title=Ghislaine Maxwell's brother insists she should be treated as 'presumed innocent': 'She is not Epstein'|last1=Hill|first1=James|last2=Folmer|first2=Kaitlyn|last3=Longman|first3=James|last4=Leuci|first4=Santuci|publisher=ABC News|date=15 March 2021|access-date=17 March 2021}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1251147.stm Q&A: What does the Maxwell report mean?] BBC News. 30 March 2001
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528991.stm On This Day: 1991: Maxwell business empire faces bankruptcy] BBC News 5 December 1991
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070221043309/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article446853.ece Kevin Maxwell given 45 days to find £1m] The Times 18 June 2004
- [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=290792002 DTI will not take action against Maxwell chiefs] The Scotsman 16 March 2002
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Ian}}
Category:British businesspeople
Category:People educated at Marlborough College
Category:British people of French descent
Category:British people of Czech-Jewish descent
Category:British people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent