One of Israel’s richest businessmen, Sammy Ofer, has died in his home at the age of 89. The shipping magnate spent the last months of his life embroiled in scandal after the US State Department accused the Ofer Brothers Group of breaking trade sanctions with Iran.Offer had been involved in a massive controversy after US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton named Ofer Brother Group as one of seven companies to be sanctioned over trade with Iran.
A US State department report had claimed that the shipping group had sold a tanker worth $8.65 million last September to Iran and that Offer Brother Group ships had regularly docked in Israel.
The Ofer Brother Group denied any wrongdoing and claimed the US State Department had made a mistake.
Sammy Ofer was publically accused of corruption in journalist Mickey Rosenthal’s 2008 documentary “The Shashuka Method” for which he took legal proceedings against Rosenthal.
One of the richest men in the world according to Forbes rich list, Offer had a total net worth of $10.3 billion. The cause of death has yet to be released.
