NYU's Michael Steinhardt, Wall Street and Golan Heights Oil Connection: Part 1

“…Hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion in 2012. He is known to be the founder of the hedge fund company, Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz and Co. He acquired most of his net worth from his diverse business investments as well as from serving as the Chairman of IDT Corporation and Wisdom Tree…In 2010, he started working for Israel Energy Initiatives Ltd (IEI) as the Chairman of the Board….”

--from The Richest.com website

“Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) announced in March 2011 a project to transform shale into oil...If it proceeds, the shale oil extraction in Israel project could permanently alter the…atmospheric climate of the Middle East… Along for the ride on this venture are media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former US vice-president Dick Cheney, along with many other notables…IEI's planned operations in the Elah Valley include digging five kilometers of trenches through farms and vineyards to expose the shale rock, which would then be heated…If carried out as planned, IEI’s project would constitute one of the least energy efficient forms of oil production ever devised…Heating the shale…could release at least 15 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. No other extraction process…is…as carbon intensive. This carbon release takes place even before refining, let alone consumption…”

--Macdonald Stainsby in the Nov. 30, 2011 issue of The Dominion

“New York University will celebrate the naming of the School of Education in honor of Michael and Judy Steinhardt...The Steinhardts’ $10 million gift, the largest in the school’s history, will create an endowment…The school will be named The Steinhardt School of Education…[then-NYU President] Oliva said: `Our New York University community is enormously proud that our School of Education will bear the name of Michael and Judy Steinhardt…’…A former Wall Street financier, Mr. Steinhardt is a member of the NYU Board of Trustees, chairman of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University…Mrs. Steinhardt is a Trustee of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts and co-chair of the American Friends of Israel Museum…”

--from a Mar. 26, 2001 press release of NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

“In 1991 the SEC began investigating four hedge fund managers–Steinhardt, Soros, Robertson and Bruce Kovner–for colluding with Salomon Brothers to corner the market in two-year Treasury bills. Robertson and Soros were eventually dropped from the investigation, but in 1994 Steinhardt, Kovner and Salomon agreed to pay to settle the allegations. Salomon coughed up $290 million–then the second-largest fine in Wall Street history–while Steinhardt Partners paid $70 million, 75% of it coming out of Michael’s personal pockets…”

--from a Feb. 10, 2014 Forbes magazine article