Serge Rubinstein (May 18, 1908 – January 27, 1955) was a stock and currency manipulator, a

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denizen, convicted draft-evader and murder victim.

Early life

Serge Rubinstein was born in

St. Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, to Dmitri and Stella Rubinstein. His father was a money lender to the Czar and a financial adviser to

Grigory Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

. The family fled Russia during the Russian Revolution, going to Sweden, Austria, and France. Serge finally settled in England, where he graduated from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

with a degree in economics.

Business dealings

Rubinstein joined the Banque Franco-Asiatique in Paris and by 1932 was running the bank. He was accused of manipulating the French franc by short selling and was expelled from France by

Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occ ...

in 1935. Rubinstein entered the United States in 1938 on a phony Portuguese passport that he had purchased for $2000. The passport was under the name of Serge Manuel Rubinstein de Rovello. He said he was the illegitimate son of a Russian father and Portuguese mother. (Rubinstein's brother Andre would later sue Serge on behalf of their mother for defamation of character because of this claim.) He had stock dealings in Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and

Postal Telegraph Postal Telegraph Company (Postal Telegraph & Cable Corporation) was a major operator of telegraph networks in the United States prior to its consolidation with Western Union in 1943.Nonnenmacher, TomasHistory of the U.S. Telegraph Industry/ref> Po ...

during 1939 and 1940 which earned him a substantial sum. His political contributions gained him a dinner at the White House with

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

. The British company Chosen Corporation, Ltd. owned three gold mines in Korea. One of its directors,

Martin Coles Harman Martin Coles Harman (1885 – 5 December 1954) was an English businessman who, in 1925, bought the island of Lundy and proclaimed himself King. Born in Steyning in Sussex and educated at Whitgift School in Croydon, Harman had six brothers and f ...

, was convicted of misappropriating funds from the company and its stock price fell. Rubinstein bought stock in the company and gained control. He sold the mines to a Japanese company for the Japanese yen equivalent of $1.7 million, keeping the money for himself. Because Japan had restrictions on the exportation of its currency, Rubinstein smuggled Japanese yen valued at $1.2 million out of Japan. Rubinstein was sued in 1941 in New York by other Chosen Corp. shareholders for $5.9 million, with the suit being settled out of court in 1946 for $2 million.

Draft evasion and deportation

Rubinstein made extensive attempts to avoid the draft during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He claimed that he was the sole support for seven dependents, with only a relatively low income. (He had married in 1941 to Laurette Kilbourne and they had two children, Alexandria and Dianna.) He also claimed that he worked for vital defense industries. Later, he claimed as a Portuguese citizen from a neutral country that he could not serve in the United States armed forces. He was indicted for lying about his income to the draft board, when he claimed he only earned $11,000 in 1940 but actually earned $337,000. He was convicted as a draft evader and served two years in the federal penitentiary in

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,1 ...

, from 1947 to 1949. His wife divorced him in 1949 while in prison, claiming cruelty. After the divorce and his release from prison Rubinstein became noted for his social life, being seen with numerous women at fancy nightclubs. The United States government had previously initiated deportation hearings for Rubinstein, as he had illegally entered the country with a forged Portuguese passport. However, using a battery of lawyers, as well as political connections, he was able to successfully contest those attempts to deport him.

Postwar Business dealings

Rubinstein was indicted in 1949 on charges of stock fraud, mail fraud, and violation of the

Securities Act The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and after ...

. This was in connection with stock of the Panhandle Producing and Refining Company, in which he reportedly netted $3.5 million. He was acquitted in 1951. Rubinstein was also sued by his sister-in-law in 1951, claiming that he cheated his late brother Andre out of $1.5 million in the Chosen Corporation swindle, but she lost the suit. In 1954, Rubinstein was sued by Blair Holdings for $5 million, alleging conspiracy to defraud. Also in 1954, three men, including Emanuel Lester, were arrested for trying to extort $535,000 from Rubinstein. Lester claimed that he was just trying to collect a debt, and had filed a $750,000 lawsuit against Rubinstein. Rubinstein said he invested in companies whose liquidation values exceeded the stock value. Critics said that Rubinstein would gain control of a company, then exchange its assets for shares in a sham company, all through a complicated series of transactions, and then dissolve the sham company.

Death

In the early morning of January 27, 1955, Rubinstein returned from a dinner at Nino's La Rue supper club with Estelle Gardner to his six-story Fifth Avenue mansion. She left about fifteen minutes later at 1:45 am. At 8:30 am, Rubinstein's butler, William Morter, found the body dressed in silk pajamas in the third floor bedroom. Rubinstein's hands and feet were tied with venetian blind cords and his mouth was covered with adhesive tape. The coroner found that he had died of manual strangulation. An initial force of 50 detectives was assigned to the murder. There was no sign of a forced entry. The room had been ransacked, but the police were unable to determine if anything was missing. The estimated time of death was 3AM. Rubinstein's mother and an aunt lived at the home on the top floors and claimed that they had seen a mysterious "girl ressedin brown" on the stairway at about 1 am after hearing quarreling. However, this was before Rubinstein had arrived home, and police thought they were confused about the time and had seen an ambulance attendant. Another thing complicating the investigation was that Rubinstein had given keys to the house to numerous girlfriends and business associates. The murder generated significant interest by the public and the media because of Rubinstein's notoriety. There were numerous theories about the murder, including a botched kidnap attempt, involvement of organized crime, revenge by a jilted lover, and revenge by financial victims. A business associate of Rubinstein, Stanley T. Stanley, said he believed it was a "mob job - a syndicate job." One reporter famously quipped that the police had "narrowed the list of suspects down to 10,000." The case was never solved. At his funeral, rabbi Dr. Julius Mark of Temple Emanu-El made this assessment of Rubinstein's life:

The word 'paradox' best describes the strangely complex, ambiguous and unquestioned psychopathic personality of Serge Rubinstein. He possessed a brilliant mind but was utterly lacking in wisdom. He had a genius for acquiring wealth, yet never learned that money is a good servant but a harsh master. He wanted friends and never had them, since he never seemed to realize that to have friends one must be a friend. He wanted love, but never knew that love must be earned, and cannot be bought. He declared that America was the finest of all countries, yet stubbornly scorned those who pleaded with him to answer America's call to service.

These remarks generated some controversy but were defended by other clergy. His estate assets totaled $1,281,668, far less than estimates of up to $10,000,000 when he was alive. Rubinstein's murder was rated as one of the biggest news stories in 1955 by the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

In popular culture

The 1956 film '' Death of a Scoundrel'', starring

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Zsa-Zsa Gabor, was loosely based on Rubinstein's life. The movie's tag line was "Men, Women... he used them, ruined them on his fantastic march to self-destruction."IMDB ''Death of a Scoundrel

/ref>

References

Books

*Great Unsolved Crimes by Louis Solomon, Scholastic Publishers, c. 1976. *Who Killed The Man Everyone Hated? by Ellery Queen ''Family magazine'' in ''Herald-Journal'' June 11, 19

(One of Ellery Queen's True Crime series.) *Final Judgment - Death of a Scoundrel ''New York Daily News'' December 6, 20

*Rubinstein Finds Trouble in the Land of Promise ''Life magazine'' May 13, 19