Kennedy Dynasty members have apparently remained extremely wealthy
since the 1990s. As Jonathan Slevin and Maureen Spagnolo observed in a 1990
book that they edited, Kennedys: The Next Generation:
"...A shroud of reticence covers the family's Park Agency
company, which manages the family's business interests and financial affairs.
The next generation benefits directly from the low-profile New York-based
enterprise, which Stephen Smith ran until his death in August 1990. The staff
provides the cousins with many perks and services, such as a travel agency,
accounting and loans to finance political campaigns..."
Barbara Gibson’s 1993 book, The Kennedys: The Third Generation
also observed:
"…Caroline is rich, as are all the Kennedy children. They
were millionaires at birth, and their incomes have increased year after year.
In addition, Caroline gained income from the Onassis estate, adding to her
wealth. She and John were willed an additional $500,000 each at his
death...Most of Caroline's time is spent at home in the 12-room apartment…bought
at 78th Street and Park Avenue. The co-op is expensive, reportedly in excess of
$2.5 million at the time of purchase..."
In his 2003 book, Sweet Caroline, Christopher Andersen
indicated how the mother of U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy
apparently increased the family’s wealth by marrying a Greek billionaire named
Aristotle Onassis in 1968:
"...Through a series of highly questionable business deals,
Onassis had parlayed an initial stake...into a half-billion-dollar
shipping empire...Jackie could not overlook the fact that Onassis ranked only
behind Howard Hughes and John Paul Getty as the world's richest man...Ari owned
his own airline—Olympic Airways…”
According to the same book, a pre-nuptial agreement between U.S.
Ambassador to Japan Kennedy’s mother and Aristotle Onassis [who died in 1975)
provided for "3 million for Jackie and a $1 million trust fund each for
Caroline and [her and JFK’s now-deceased son] John,” “under Maurice
[Tempelsman]'s guidance” Ambassador Kennedy’s “mother had amassed a $150
million fortune,” and “the bulk of the estate was divided up between Caroline
and John." And when 1,195 lots from Jackie Onassis’s estate were auctioned
off in April 1996, “the...auction...poured another $34,461,495 into Caroline
and John's coffers..."
J. Randy Taraborielli’s 2012 book After Camelot also
recalled:
“…His [Aristotle Onassis's] father, Socrates, was a prosperous
shipping owner with ten ships in his fleet and extensive real estate
holdings...[Ari Onassis] forged simultaneous long-term alliances at fixed
prices with such competing oil companies as Mobil, Socony, and Texaco...under
the duty-free flag of Panama...As his coffers grew, so did his holdings--shares
that guaranteed his control of 95 multinational businesses on 5 continents:
gold processing, airlines, and real estate investments in South America, a
chemical company in Persia; a castle, apartments, a skyscraper in Manhattan;
Olympic Airways,..; ownership of Greek islands in the Aegean...; the luxury
yacht Christina; and 17 banks throughout the world..."
"...Each of the Kennedy children received $1 million when
they turned twenty-one...She [Jackie Onassis] would also receive $150,000 a
year for the rest of her life. John and Caroline would each also receive
$50,000 a year until they turned 21. At that time, $100,000 a year would be
added to Jackie's annuity..."
"By 1985, Jackie (Onassis) had become fully committed
to...Maurice Templesman...At 16, he began working for his father, who was a
diamond merchant...He joined his father in the diamond merchant business--Leon
Tempelsman and Sons, Inc...Tempelsman would take complete control of Jackie's
finances and build her $25.5 million settlement from Onassis into a fortune
that would be estimated at between $100 and $200 million..."
"...It was Caroline Kennedy who first spoke to Ted about
endorsing Obama...The Kennedys support of Obama was a crushing blow
to...Hillary Clinton...
"...In January 1998, Merchandise Mart and several other
commercial properties owned by the Kennedys were sold to Vorrado Realty, a real
estate investment bank, for $625 million. It was a deal Christopher [Kennedy]
helped to broker, and one that guaranteed much of the third generation of
Kennedys (Smith and Shrivers included) millions of dollars in yearly
annuities--as per the provisions in their grandfather's will should the company
be sold--instead of hundreds of thousands, and for the rest of their lives...Of
Ted's children, Ted Jr. continues his work with the Marwood Group, advising
corporations..."
The wealthy diamond merchant business owner who took “complete
control of” Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s “finances” after Aristotle Onassis’s 1975 death, Maurice Tempelsman, was the subject of a cover-story profile in People
magazine’s July 11, 1994 issue. According to People magazine, "the
secretive Tempelsman” was "a major, major player in Africa," was
"CEO of Lazare Kaplan International" which is "one of the U.S.'s
oldest diamond firms," was "a former chairman of
the...African-American Institute," "has donated over $150,000 to
Democratic candidates and the party" and "was especially active in
1988 when a proposed embargo of South African diamonds threatened his
business," during South Africa's apartheid era. And according to Lawrence
Baraebibai Ekpebu’s 1989 book, Zaire And The African Revolution:
"...The Southern Africa Group for Education [SAGE [was]]
headed by a Randall Porter and late President Kennedy's son, John F. Kennedy,
Jr. [and was]…said to be financed by a `close' friend and business associate of
Mobutu, millionaire Tempelsman! Mr. Tempelsman [was]…said to have helped Mobutu
bring foreign investors from the United States, France, Japan and South Africa
to form a second Zairean mining organization [Tenka fungurume Mining
Society]...Both he and Mobutu [were]…said to be `reaping substantial earnings
from the gem diamond trade'...”
Coincidentally, according to United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa
by Peter Schrader, during the 1970s former CIA Chief of Station in Kinshasha
Lawerence Devlin also "took up duty as the local representative of Maurice
Tempelsman, a powerful U.S. businessperson with significant economic
investments in Zaire."
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