protecting the super-rich

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Issue no. 688 dated 15 may, 2013 PRIVATE SECURITY
VIP bodyguards: protecting the super­
rich Foreign service budget cuts and the gradual disappearance of piracy in the Gulf of Aden are behind growing numbers of private security companies moving into the industry’s practically only growth area: close protection for the very wealthy. Page Group’s new venture ­ Britain's Page Group, the European External Action Service’s main foreign security provider, including in Kabul and Gaza, announced a joint venture last week with the US VIP bodyguard company TorchStone Global. Stuart Page, the founder of Page Group and a former officer of Scotland Yard’s anti­terrorist squad, has many years of experience in the field and was responsible for Rupert Murdoch’s personal security in the 1980s. Torchstone’s CEO Frank Rodman protected Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers, for a decade before handling the personal security of the three Ziff brothers, who head the private equity fund of the same name and are estimated to be worth $12 billion. To help Torchstone Global make its mark in this very exclusive niche, the company has several well­connected advisory board members such as Anthony Dick, formerly of the wealth­management advisory firm Train, Babcock Advisors, and Ian Greenwald, a former emergency doctor in the US Army who now handles the medical emergencies of high­net­worth individuals. Salamanca and Quest play banker­soldiers ­ When he returned from Afghanistan in 2008, Ed Butler, the former commander of 22nd SAS Regiment, chose not to follow former colleagues into embassy and company private security, opting instead to enter VIP close protection. In 2011 he took the helm of Salamanca Risk Management, the close protection subsidiary of the British financial advice group Salamanca. Founded in 2002 by Martin Bellamy, Salamanca was conceived as a services company for billionaires via Salamanca Capital, which provides banking and investment advice in the high­end property market, the wealth management subsidiary Salamanca Family & Wealth and a private security branch. Former Metropolitan Police chief John Stevens’ private security and corporate intelligence group Quest is trying to model itself along the same lines. Last year Quest hired away several executives from the wealth management company Investec Trust to set up Quest Wealth, a subsidiary dedicated to the provision of financial and security services to the very rich. Guidepost, private police force for billionaires ­ In addition to its investigative work for top New York lawyers ­ it worked for the lawyers acting for disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn ­, former federal prosecutor Bart Schwartz’ private investigation and security firm Guidepost is also getting into VIP close protection. In March it acquired US Safety and Security, the personal security outfit founded by Joe Funk, the former head of the Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team. Contrary to its British competitors, Guidepost is not in the wealth management business but it does offer its billionaire clientele a full array of private investigation services. Guidepost also has privileged access to the world of the super­rich, indeed it is of that world. Its main shareholder is Anthony Lanza, the son of Frank Lanza, the former CEO of the defence and aeronautics group Loral and co­founder of the defence electronics giant L­3 Communications. © Copyright - INTELLIGENCE ONLINE - Edition française. 89354645
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Intelligence Online est une publication professionnelle dont le
financement est assuré entièrement par ses lecteurs. Créée en 1980, elle est éditée, depuis 1990, par la société de presse indépendante Indigo Publications.
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Intelligence Online - 142 rue Montmartre - 75002 Paris - Tél: + 33 1 44 88 26 10 - Fax: + 33 1 44 88 26 15
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