Michael Dezer (), born Michael Dezertzov, is an Israeli-American real estate developer, car collector, and

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

. He is the founder of Dezer Properties and is known for his investments in New York and Florida real estate in association with

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Biography

Dezer was born in a working-class family in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel , the son of a bus driver. He served in the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

. In 1962, he immigrated from Israel to the U.S. where he went to night school and worked in advertising before starting a typesetting business. In 1970, he founded Dezer Properties and started investing in real estate in New York City, focusing on the Chelsea neighborhood, which was then transitioning into an arts community from a manufacturing center. He focused on converting factory buildings into luxury office cooperatives. By 1994, he owned 15 buildings in the area. Starting in 1985, he purchased as much ocean-front land in

Sunny Isles Beach Sunny Isles Beach (SIB or more commonly Sunny Isles, and officially the City of Sunny Isles Beach) is a city located on a barrier island in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of So ...

as he could, much of which was old motels. In partnership with

, he developed properties there including the $900 million Trump Towers, the $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and Residences, and the $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower. Dezer is also the landlord of the luxury auto retailer Manhattan Motorcars.

Criminal probe

In May 2017,

Brazilian Federal Police The Federal Police of Brazil () or Department of Federal Police () is a federal law enforcement agency of Brazil and One of the most know nationals Polices forces of the Executive Power of Brazil. Besides with Polícia Rodoviária Federal (Feder ...

launched "Operation Miami Connection" to shut down a

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

scheme it accused Dezer Properties of being involved in. Dezer Properties is behind the Porsche Design Towers Brava, a luxury condominium to open in 2022 that is being marketed to foreigners in Praia Brava on

Santa Catarina Island Santa Catarina Island () is an island in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, located off the southern coast. It is home to the state capital, Florianópolis. Location Santa Catarina Island is approximately 54 km (33 mi) long (m ...

in Brazil. The Brazilian authorities alleged that a contractor laundered more than R$12 million (

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

4 million) through Dezer Properties as "licensing fees" paid to

Porsche SE Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE (), is a German multinational corporation primarily known as a holding company of Volkswagen Group with investments in the automotive industry. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenh ...

. According to Brazilian media, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

and the Brazilian federal police are cooperating on the investigation, which involves three businessmen from the United States and Germany.

Personal life

Family

Dezer is Jewish, of Russian descent. He is married to fellow Israeli Neomi (''née'' Kerekes) and has three children: daughters Leslie Dezer Salmon (born 1970) and Estee Dezer Gurwitz (born 1978); and son Gil Dezer (born 1975). All his children participate in the family business. Gil Dezer, also a car collector, developed the 60-story Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach.

Car collection

Dezer collects cars and displays over 1,000 cars from his collection in the

Miami Auto Museum The Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection was a privately owned museum in North Miami, Florida, that exhibited automobiles and related memorabilia collected by Michael Dezer. It has closed and is being moved to Orlando, Florida, to be opene ...

North Miami, Florida North Miami is a suburban city located in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, about north of Miami. The city lies on Biscayne Bay and hosts the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University. Originally the "Town of A ...

. The collection has diverse types of cars including European and American

classic car A classic car is typically described as an automobile 25 years or older, although a car's age is not the only requirement it must meet before being considered a "classic." However, a standard criteria for recognizing cars as classics does not ex ...

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...

s, movie cars,

supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

s, and

military vehicle A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles, both specifically designed for or significantly used by military. Most military vehicles require Off-road vehicle, off-road capabilities ...

s. He also has motorcycles, scooters, bicycles and the largest collection of

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...

s displayed at the museum. He launched 2 outposts of his main

. In 2014, he opened the Hollywood Cars Museum in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

by partnering with classic and exotic car dealer Hot Rod City to display more than 100 cars from movies, TV shows and videos. In 2016, he spent $3.6 million on a space in Xtreme Action Park in

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

to open the second outpost of his main museum to display about 200 cars.

Political contributions

Ahead of the

2016 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic Party (United States), Democratic former Secretary of State (Uni ...

, Dezer donated $100,000 to Trump's

Make America Great Again "Make America Great Again" (MAGA, ) is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024. "MAGA" is also used to refer to Trump's ideology, political bas ...

PAC and $200,000 to the

Trump Victory Committee The Trump Victory Committee was a joint fundraising committee for Donald J. Trump for President (the Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016, Donald Trump presidential campaign organization), the Republican National Committee (RNC), and 11 sta ...

. Ahead of the

2020 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice presidents of the United States, vice president Joe Biden, defeated incu ...

, he donated $100,000 to the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dezer, Michael 1941 births American car collectors American people of Israeli descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from New York City Israeli businesspeople Israeli Jews Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Living people New York (state) Republicans