Thomas Kramer (born April 27, 1957) is a German-born

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

and

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

, noteworthy for his part in the redevelopment of

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a Neighborhoods of Miami Beach, Florida, neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Thomas Kramer's development projects include the

Apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

, the Portofino Tower, the Murano Grande, and the

Yacht Club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

Biography

Kramer is the son of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

stockbroker Willi Kramer. He attended the Salem Boarding School. Then he took a brokerage apprenticeship in London and became a licensed broker. He joined his father's firm, before moving on to

Shearson Lehman Brothers Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson In the early 1990s, Kramer purchased for $45 million large portions of South Pointe, the southern tip of South Beach, a high-crime and poverty-stricken area. The deal allowed him to consolidate his holdings in a land swap. It also cleared zoning to allow the erection of the tallest buildings south of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

.Boyd, Christopher. "Sturm und Drang, South Beach-style. (German investor-turned real estate developer Thomas Kramer)." ''Florida Trend''. 1996. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011). The whole area was turned into a premier residential area."Miami Beach, Fla., neighborhood nears point of build-out." ''Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News''. 2004. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011). In 2000, Verena von Mitschke-Collande and Claudia Miller-Otto, daughters of Siegfried Otto whose step-daughter was briefly married to Thomas Kramer, won a $90 million settlement against Kramer in a Swiss court. The plaintiffs had financed Thomas Kramer's real estate purchases in Miami, but when they intended to collect their money in 1995, Thomas Kramer tried to overturn the request and lost. When The Otto daughters launched the collect request in Florida, which included his 1.84 acres of Miami properties, Thomas Kramer transferred the majority of his assets to the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. In 2013, Kramer signed an agreement with Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz to build the first-ever Island City in Karachi, Pakistan, the ''Bundal & Buddo Islands'', a deal worth US$20 billion. The deal fell through since Kramer failed to provide the necessary funds. Kramer was subjected to a record fine for an individual from the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

. He donated to political candidates as a foreign citizen. This is illegal under United States

campaign finance laws Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpora ...

. He claimed he had been unaware of the prohibition, pointing out that he is a prominent, public figure and known to be a German citizen."RECORD CAMPAIGN FINE OF $323,000 IS LEVIED AGAINST GERMAN DONOR.(News)."Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Thomson Scientific, Inc. 1997. HighBeam Research. January 18, 2011."Record $323,000 Fine Levied by FEC; German Businessman Gave Illegally to Democrats and Republicans."The Washington Post. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Co. 1997. HighBeam Research (January 18, 2011). He turned himself in to the FEC and immediately requested the refund of all political donations. The imposed fine was agreed upon as part of a voluntary conciliation agreement with the FEC. Howard Glicken pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from the circumstance. He admitted soliciting donations from Kramer when he knew that Kramer was not a U.S. citizen.Hopkins, Kara. "Friend of Al admits raising illegal foreign money." Human Events. Human Events Publishing Inc. 1998. HighBeam Research. 18 January 2011 In a hearing report made public in 2014, Thomas Kramer explained that he had lost all financial liability since that event. In August 2017, his house on Star Island was auctioned and sold for $40 million.

Other activities

Thomas Kramer appeared on the third season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and the second season of The Real Housewives of Miami.

Philanthropy

Thomas Kramer created the Thomas Kramer Foundation, his main charitable vehicle. He regularly rents out his Star Island mansion for charity events. In 1992, Thomas Kramer purchased the ''Woman in an Armchair'', painted in 1932 by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, for $2.86 million, well below the expected price of $3.5 million to $4.5 million.

Personal life

He was married to Catherine Burda, daughter of Franz Burda II, the son of Franz Burda I, founder of a well-known German publishing house. Early in 1995, Kramer was arrested in Zurich after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman. Later that year, a second woman reported to Miami police that she had been raped by Kramer. In 1999, Kramer was charged in England with raping his secretary. In 2007, Kramer was arrested after a 13-year-old boy claimed Kramer had fondled him. Later in 2007, Kramer was sued by a woman who claimed he had grabbed her breast at a party.

Footnotes

External links