Playboy millionaire or saint? - The case of Florian Homm | DW Documentary

[Music] I belong Dzongkha fresh wine bottle two things he was like one of those pigs that hunt around for truffles he looks for small listed companies that at first glance didn't look interesting at all but he finds something about one of those companies that told him this one could really take off that's going to explode blue octy much button for explosion [Music] one seven I'm a decent is money if you work in this business you're always looking for companies that are undervalued that have real growth potential companies that others have overlooked flecked at present when did you buy them at the right time you can make a lot of money perfectly legally good get met 15 of legaia atomizer [Music] as it sits here this is a female brown trout in the vibe Elizabeth fuller it's about 12 centimeters long not big enough to eat of course the school's new semester all right emo he was always unusual one day when he came home there was a squirrel in his school bag I asked him what are we supposed to do with it and he said we had to keep it it had fallen out of its nest he's avoiding it and he just dumped his school things in the forest haha that's great ha and I said oh that's a Fergus I prefer to do things like that rather than go to school it was a lot more interesting than sitting around listening to some second-rate teacher right [Music] until the summer of 2007 Florian Hong was one of the three hundred richest people in Germany he let the glamorous life of a successful hedge fund manager he jetted from one deal to the next always on the lookout for higher returns but later that year he suddenly disappeared soon after he was on the FBI's most wanted list suspected of securities fraud that had cost investors 200 million dollars for years he'd presented himself as an aggressive even ruthless capitalists but now it seemed he'd gone too far Florian home was born in 1959 in the town of Albert wuzzle near Frankfurt as keen cash villain here wouldn't you when I was a kid and I used to watch them weld the pipes for the plumbing systems some of them for simple homes but also for the new buildings that were part of the neue Heimat construction project the idea was the headquarters of my father's big business until home Koga mother - Masha is the case that my husband who came from a humble background himself desperately wanted to move up into the upper class off my reward in London he was obsessed with achieving success for Ian kealoha the elf GABA Beto I wasn't particularly interested in installing bathtubs and toilets in fact I believe that if I ended up doing that it would have been a major humiliation done this is Nydia lager the man who had had the greatest influence on him during this time was his great uncle use of neckerman a successful businessman let's go pisa there were these Sunday gatherings at the neck amount of state hosted by Yosef and his wife Anna Marie there's an absolutely brilliant guy and you just wanted to bask in his lights and be around him he wanted to please him if nikuman he didn't even do that he is I'm about to even dog a file damaged him at a base design Florian always had to be the best I went on vacation with him every year once we were at this ravine in Spain and we decided to see how close we could get to the brink for I dared to touch the edge with my toes this was on a cliff that was 200 or 300 meters high but Florian went over to it on his heels and said he'd won typical Florian always extremely [Music] Florian was a good athlete and toured the US with the German junior basketball team he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1987 after that he worked at Merrill Lynch fidelity investments emelius bear what got him hooked on the world of finance Paul Mantz on mud mud I wasn't really good at all the formulas the numbers in the math what I thought was maybe we're taking a completely wrong approach complete fashion life on Wall Street was completely different from what he'd known growing up in the suburbs of Frankfort at fidelity Florian learned the ropes from master investor Peter Lynch [Music] in the footings cause there's a saying by when there's blood in the streets I learned how to make money even when the markets were down then I had even more to reinvest florian returned to Frankfort he served as a senior vice president at the German division of Julius Baer and later as a managing partner at Tweedy Brown in 1993 on co-founded his own investment company value management and research that's about nine sick I took my company public in 1998 at one point it was worth about 100 million German marks he was pretty profitable from zero Fatah I made a lot of money between 1998 and 2001 DB outs five thousand nine nine six at the end of 1999 the company's value had risen Sevenfold at this time the dot-com bubble was growing rapidly and the value of high-tech investments were soaring Frankfurt knee max Index rose to new heights partial 9 if it would Lilian made a name for himself in those heady days when the knee max was really hot there's no end mark to drew attention because he had charisma he was brash and he was absolutely fearless high height to which a fear in the angst soon who seen as having a kind of glamour doesn't climb mountains if I hide it in Frankfurt at that time some of his stocks were known as home stocks that was the money and his buddies had invested in a lot of different stocks at Eastland that's and people were watching these guys to see what they buy next let's pipe gets home home status on the Frankfurt market was such that a lot of investors listened to him and handed over their money they were swayed by his unconventional approach and his personal charm he treated his clients well for example he signed important contracts only in the finest hotels and similar venues [Music] most every hedge fund there is a dominant individual running that company here that person is attracting investors and capital because the people who invest know him they believe in him adore him or her and that's why they put their money their home quickly developed a reputation as a fund manager who knew what he was doing and new investors flocked to his company his clients included the Italian food corporation Barilla and the German aristocratic family to earn and taxes this is some too personal I used big rooms like this if you want to make big deals you have to do it in a big place then come on maybe it makes the clients feel better when you're trying to close a deal it's the stimulus of unless the call from home developed an increasingly aggressive investment strategy including short selling that's a bet that the value of a stock or other investment will fall finish inflation birds inside if I can make money even when the markets falling it's an awesome feeling it's a million-to-one shot nobody else is doing it everyone wants to make money and I was doing it when the market was falling fine cool isn't good fitting take fish loosing it that's all a lie here's how it works I borrow shares of a stock that I think is going to fall I then sell the shares at the current price max if the stock does fall I buy back at the lower price pay back the shares I borrowed and pocket the difference when home would come out with a report that said shares of a certain company were worth only 5 euros instead of 50 the fruits the oil the ads on unemployable on this is Stanley but he did not mention the fact that he was also selling that company stock short the off-days accent it was a real conflict of interest and sometimes it doesn't work well man smiley Kermit like the time hum tried to speculate against the sixth company brutaka NASA doesn't seem 11 mid every six are sealed in early 2003 Hahn put out a report that predicted that stock in the sixth car rental company would drop by 50% at the same time he was also selling that stock short but CEO la sixth fought back he filed a lawsuit that accused home of price manipulation six referred to him as the Antichrist of capitalism and in the end Homs plan failed the price of sixth stock remained stable and German banking authorities ordered Hahn to pay a fine we asked him how he feels about this case today yeah we'll know about some - I'm okay with let's say I'm the US Federal Reserve and I buy four trillion dollars worth of fixed income securities Oh peasants you take good the federal interest rate drops to zero so I've influenced the market because of I've literally but if a private investor did that it would be the world's biggest case of price manipulation how about when the Federal Reserve does it that's fine high leakage for but can you really compare the interest rate policies of a central bank with the actions of an individual investor dr. commonly sole owner percentage leaders laughing the bargain is he's partially right there's a fine line between market manipulation influencing the market and normal market practices the European Central Bank can do it theoretically for the good of the economy but when private investors do it when Florian home does it he's doing it only to enrich himself but does it eschaton Hut Pat decides who's I magnin not singleton second by important it is technically possible to adjust stock prices is it legal no vemma how does it work um good dick try another hunter named the smaller a company is the easier it is to let's say manage the stock price goes to Lulu the market is only open for a limited number of hours every day possible mr. Bo's during that time you buy and sell stock to get the price you want plot C and it's a technical process and back then that still worked hold on dad almost not fortunate according to the judgment of most people some easy money in such an enormous amount tend to be considerate in some way through it at least immoral behavior I probably a to agree with this vision probably as a fact assesses is this word of love extreme finances something deeply moral in it it is fake money travelling around the world where the money that grows and disappears so quickly finance is not real it has no reference with the real economy so Zooey something probably deeply moral innate in which all our society is evolved there's no way to tell how wealthy home was at the peak of his career at least on paper he converted much of that virtual wealth into real assets including artworks real estate and to private jets but time was running out [Music] add me up to hockey pick me up the airport and on the way to the cab stand he took three phone calls and ten inside the taxi it was the same thing at the hotel I didn't get to speak a word with him English playing in 2004 Homme invested 20 million euros in German football club Borussia Dortmund which was close to bankruptcy what was he trying to prove young boys thousand true capitalists have only one fundamental motivation do they want to own everything good foods and oh it's like they say to themselves it will all belong to me after the stock market crash in 2001 Homme moved to Majorca and set up his first hedge fund company called absolute Capital Holdings Limited [Music] Miyoko also offered home the privacy and security of exclusive gated communities like those in Florida and California his estate village aerosol featured a tennis court pool and even a private Zoo and when I was a little kid like I didn't realize how fortunate I was cuz I had a lot and we lived in like nice places and yachts flames and everything and and I kind of took it for granted when I was a kid because I didn't even realize it was out of the ordinary but homes majorca retreat was anything but private in fact it was just the opposite business partners and clients flocked to the estate even on weekends and I started leaving leave the Fila mentioned he lived a life that most people can only dream about he was successful lots of money and nice family and estate jets and yachts a lot of that isn't really important but that's a different matter altogether she don't want to pawn was often seen in Mayorkas clubs and bars and he held press conferences as though he were a king at court when he Vaz mhmm the Hobby financial empire covered half the Western world his headquarters were in my Orca of my yokai he had a holding company that was listed on the London Stock Exchange was valued at over a billion euros I was a funny when I'm a yachtie dad company directed the funds that made him rich the funding anomalies are false oh these are false as far these were actually hedge funds and like most hedge funds they were registered in the Cayman Islands hum was well known for his generosity towards trusted employees but he also had a quirky side he's on a fluke ticket Calvin among individual Takanawa he once called me up and invited me down to my Yorker for the weekend he was thinking about offering me an executive job with his company's image for and he wanted to discuss it Oh Hockomock so I flew down on Saturday um I dressed appropriately for such an important interview so let me tell you what his first question was did you bring your swimming trunks on the austere fog of our house mother body was in the bye [Music] one of the more visible to users of fun good sides then we drove around the island for a while and he showed me some of the attractions like his seven room company flat behind dr. workbenches room I was pretty impressed well welcome once said to myself why shouldn't I do it oh I was trying to put the ball in do it didn't take me long to decide that I wanted the job oh and then on the second or third weekend when I was there - he said he wanted to walk over to a small cliff nearby and jump off oh-ee gonna moan - bling and he did no I know if the brothers won - I got up there looks down and decided not to jump yeah beam Ivanushka sh-boom he told me later that it was just a psychological test that he liked to give people usual tests were the Agana Kabakov Homme only hired those who didn't jump but their daring would be put to the test later on the job actin Fixodent did visit sir shares would change hands and the price would go up and then the stocks came back to the original owners there was all this trading going on and it just kept driving the stock price higher not online Emma who LM Corson oh man and then you sell it when it gets to the top and you profit from the artificial increase in price that's really what we're that's really the heart of this case and so what and that's how they managed to inflate the value of these funds home profited handsomely in several ways perfectly other than a mere first from the Commission's paid to him by the fund owners before I and because there's also boosted the value of his company on the London Stock Exchange went to ocean stagnant Bosnia top China gesellschaft II in Vernon mutia - he might oppose it soon PopTech I was totally opposed to this kind of trading he does not so much because I was concerned about whether it was legal but because I was concerned about whether it was fair for the investors we were making money on transactions that have been artificially rigged it has become the students leash at sofas yes I know seinem posits you understand justified all this by saying everyone's doing it and that's true to a certain extent the big banks engage in similar activity coulson banking but they don't do it as openly and on a scale that I would describe as criminal um no one he saw often Ziegler and I'm not saying that hum was involved in criminal activity per se Kosmos why but the way these funds were operated whoever was responsible for it certainly strikes me as criminal and des voix mine on Zeke not coming there well it certainly is to be proven and these are simply allegations at the present time the SEC case was was not resolved has not been resolved in a manner that's unfavorable to Florian and of course the charges in the criminal cases simply remain outstanding in early 2007 a former home employee Darius Posey went public with allegations of price manipulation and price-fixing posi made the claims in an email that he sent under a pseudonym to banks and home clients he's come you're kind of pies for everyone I can't recall a single case in which flurry and home was involved in price-fixing he didn't know enough about it he didn't have the technical expertise mr. fish gardening technician fish cousin he didn't even have the competence to place an order like a chef to plot see he couldn't do it most of if he had wanted to do it he'd have had to ask someone else to do it victimok doesn't doesn't us - diamond inside point I think the important point is that mr. Percy made allegations which which we believe can could have been demonstrated to be untrue to begin with but he himself has now admitted and stated under oath to the Swiss prosecutor that many of the key things that he claimed are not true by the summer of 2007 Homme was starting to pull back from running day-to-day operations he worked in an office inside the house at one point um and all I remember is that he was just always in his office smoking cigars working on the phone all the time and it was always a bit weird he's awkward around that time I visited him in Majorca and everything seemed okay all this whoo-whoo boy on left the island on the morning of September the 18th 2007 he would later write that at this point he felt drained exhausted and worn out he said he'd stashed five hundred thousand dollars in his underwear briefcase and cigar case [Music] I'm gonna be telephone in often from pal mozzarella he threw his mobile phone into the harbor at Parma and go down to his plane he had a lot of cash on him and oh by far and goodbye the rest of you were on your own I line let's get down nothing of it he did a lot of things that I admired but that wasn't one of them [Music] - fine kaliesha is actually in a great mood I was flying off to freedom I didn't fluke indi fly height I do it so good by workaholism workaholism I'd you'd fool I letting other people control me won't I look a long adventure I love the summit there are also a lot of questions that I had no answers for oh I just knew that my life wasn't very fulfilling what's the HD it was the newer that's my name is chef actually I had no idea what fulfilling meant is [Music] many loyal investors entities institutions as well as high net worth individuals believed in Florian had done well with him trusted his judgment and investment advice and so they invested because of Florian and with him taken out of the picture then the incentive for a lot of those folks to remain disappeared the markets reacted the share value of homes holding company was nearly wiped out how about a secrecy I think he knew they were going to be consequences but I don't think he expected the price would drop 90 to 95 percent in one day Sean Clark does this give us a format Accio Jorian Hall resign unexpectedly resigned unexpectedly in a rot of the basic way yeah he lost money when the company collapsed Oh investors don't understand why they were upset though why don't I could quit my job or does my contract make me a slave of the company first laughs in Alphen anyone can quit their job at any time but first you have to make sure that you leave behind a well organized fund and not a disaster area Gordon before yeah I was surprised that he would just take off like that in the fine um well if initials him and Canada the Florian that I knew wasn't someone who fled first he denies that he fled their flocked up Kanaya fine but others see the situation differently you had employees and an organization they can't just look at a list yes you can I can Intel you can make a decision because you can do whatever you like you can decide tomorrow to become a serial killer you know inside I could decide tomorrow to become a servant of the Holy Mother on foot so I can go underground for a while until I find some answers and something fulfilling to do last we have food Florian has been on many occasions his own worst enemy so yes it's one of those facts that a prosecutor likes because it's colorful and it also and the prosecutors mind would indicate a guilty intent or criminal intent fraudulent intent Jean destroyed I'm good for now though oh sure investors lost money but not just because he left the company Oh thus was i needing to mutiny they lost money because of what others in the company had been doing months earlier um that's by authorities who follow they driven up the share price form so the investors had a long way to fall custom you so much as what is not one of the reasons why you left when peeler a lot of clients wanted to talk to Florian jiazhen in early October 2007 six or seven bikers stopped by the office they looked like Hells Angels they asked me whether Florian was in and I said no Hamish Gallardo Florian they said if you're lying we'll find out and then you'll have a big problem Buddha Buddhist Laos comme une des hidden problem so in des moines dusk inside the bar gate be a private german company acting on behalf of unidentified clients offered a 1.5 million euro reward for information that would result in homs arrest and conviction the company posted the offer in a YouTube video the video featured the investigator who was handling the casing for something but harm resurfaced despite the fact that there was a reward for his arrest what made him do it was he looking for yet another thrill visit the studio here in the studio we can look out but people can't look in are you afraid of being arrested now I've done a bit of planning for that but I can't go through life being afraid all the time Steve again it's up cos alpha Nyssa is senior only apart from the staged media appearance where he claimed that he'd held secret meetings with certain colleagues um he was able to move around in public quite freely far called high enough risk I predict in March 2013 Homme travelled to Italy to meet up with his ex-wife and son Interpol informed the US authorities federal prosecutors quickly put out a warrant for his arrest on March the 8th police arrested him in front of his family at the Oh fitzy gallery in Florence as fate would have it he had just been looking at a portrait of son Florian and so began Holmes journey from Hell to heaven and his transformation to a committed Christian folk to glisten thus the concept of conscience never entered my mathematical equations uh he has a bit seal exist there set goals in business well in six or seven other he rides succeed relation I wanted a certain level of intensity in my life and the levels intensity on March the 10th 2013 home was sent to a jail near Florence pending extradition to the US first done novice Angus burger yes doctor I finally understood where I was after I tried for a whole month to get a pillow for my prison bed there were bunk beds in the cell with three beds in each step they had to squeeze eight people into ninety square meters but I really understood what was going on when I realized that I didn't have the money to defend myself against the US charges they wanted to put me away for a total of 225 years I understood things even better when I found out that a corrupt judge in Florence had not ordered my release even though the 35-day US statute of limitations had already expired food tarah Swiss TV la cama yeah finished huntin all joy was being held illegally i hate's bill award I'd been kidnapped I finally figured out what was going on nearly 18 months after his arrest Homme was released even though Italy in the u.s. had an extradition treaty he went directly to Frankfurt [Music] he was safe there since Germany in the u.s. had no such treaty Homme was now facing trials in both the u.s. and Switzerland his daughter Isabella met him at Frankfurt Airport when she was a child her father had traveled around in private jets now she was picking him up and he used Opel we asked whether Homme had changed at all he talks quite a bit about religion and and I'm not quite familiar with it he thought he was personally getting messages to Mary and he still does refused to belong to the Rothschild family the most famous Jewish family from Frankfurt and a Verna was your age they were my role model so I wanted to have like the Rothschilds I was thinking at least that way four or five boys would follow and develop further develop my little business empire can you imagine what a miserable life you'd have led he's I call him the big guy I don't call him my dad I can't hey big guy um because it's just still a bit odd to call him dad because I get I I just weird it's a weird thing Florian home set off on his own to find success and return from that journey a broken man everything he dreamed of in this youth success wealth Fame was now gone does he think he'll ever make a comeback [Music] there's long [Music] Vantage Bava oddish god I was in jail no one wanted to talk to me it's no one from my old Network look let this initiative Xia Duff but when I got out there were three offers waiting for me when you come come from people who knew that I wasn't a thief Diana border Valley vision does this kind deep but where were these people when I was in jail they didn't even send me a postcard I'll become buddies but as soon as I got out they wanted to know how I was doing and whether I could go to work for them with uvn what did you tell them it's life and I didn't even answer two of them a third offer came from someone who knew me really well and I told him I'm terribly sorry but I have a new boss now foot by light Shep annoying chef Tom had transformed himself from unscrupulous fund manager to repentant Catholic even does charity work now he says he's more interested in saving his middle soul than padding his bank account deanzie are you selling anything these days yeah I am I'm fishing and selling that's what are you selling later um huffing on my cell hello love and faith but it's not easy when I go fishing for souls and not a lot harder than making money as though Vieira's give 15 a get on even for loss canceled typically he's moving full speed ahead to his new life it's no Malekith but he probably won't be satisfied with being a normal everyday Catholic he's got to be on stage front and center that's the way he is that's the attitude that helped make him a success but it's also the attitude that ruined his career [Music] today Florian Homme gives lectures at universities and conferences on his spiritual transformation from solo Pharisee to Paul the Apostle [Music] can you hear me okay okay but I want to say that I'm very grateful area mic is off by moving in one of our last conversations I told him that it was a real waste that he'd left the finance industry he's got the brains and the skills thank you there are few people in that industry that can make the connections between things like he does something it's reckon I was on TV I had no idea how I was going to give these speeches tidy ones that the first two or three were really tough I had to write them out and give them a real structure just looked earlier than others just a few kilometers away from the orbital conference on values and business is Frankfurt's financial heart Fleury in homs old stomping ground gloves do you think the finance industry will ever take him back does he go work that way from jr. diesel absolute absolutely I'm convinced about the blood they all keep a careful eye on Zia 460 feet ahead Shawn just two weeks after his speech at the conference Hamid were the board of directors of a large German company could he really make a comeback in business Berlin a human as long as I doubt there'll be no post if he works with someone who'll keep an eye on him and keep him on a leash then I think he could put his expertise to good use those undestand either oh but he probably wouldn't be allowed to handle investors money you know if the optimizer does I don't think that will happen the Toyotas thank you for my buddy could do well as an advisor I can imagine that rotten Teufel to little commercial for him Lindsay would you offer him a job we do to work with him again never [Music] in some cases where people have been convicted of crimes people still come back to them and they make investments with them and so it's possible it's always possible but of course it depends on what Florian wants to do with his life he's devoted a considerable amount of his time both during the time he was still in prison and PISA but now quite a bit since his release to religious activities that is the I call it his psychologist remotely this is it's entirely possible that this is a hurdle he's built up for himself to keep himself away should he get that urge again by convincing them but also mine in anything and looked I do perfectly agree with you from from many points of view to the words of high-speed finance as Sam singing closer to go to be an alcoholic money can give you easy money enormous amounts of mayonnaise played the quickly around the globe but can give you the same kind of addiction of alcohol what is a big lift it's tockman the concept of dry drunk syndrome applies here once my guess that someone said although he was probably showing off that his favorite book was Dostoyevsky's the gambler he's probably my against the knowledge and there you have the problem he's got to stay away from the gambling table he has no money left but he can't stay away and he loses his shirt and destroys his life and he still can't stop my thoughts of amalah eyah does patata china sights me i look at my current situation with both the sense of irony and with respect because i don't want to fall back into old habits it would be so easy for me to start earning money again it always wants when he met Bob [Music] [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 330,236

Rating: 4.6830835 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, DW, Deutsche Welle, fraud, money laundering, crime, most wanted, Florian Homm, FBI, stock market, finance, true crime, USA, Germany, stock fraud, investment fraud, Wall Street

Id: D3CGD13KYEA

Length: 42min 33sec (2553 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2017