Roland Arnall
Encyclopedia
Roland E. Arnall was a French
-born American
businessman
and diplomat
. As the owner of ACC Capital Holdings, he became a billionaire
with Ameriquest Mortgage
. He was co-founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
, and from 2006 until shortly before his death he was the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
.
, France
. His parents were Eastern Europe
an Jews who had fled to Paris. During World War II
, Arnall was raised as a Roman Catholic
in a French village. He was kept unaware of being a Jew until after the war had ended, when he was six years old.
After the war, Arnall and his family moved to Montreal
, Canada
. In the late 1950s they relocated to the United States
, and for a while Arnall sold flowers on the streets of Los Angeles
, California
.
In 1977, Arnall a longtime supporter of Israel helped found the Simon Wiesenthal Center
, and the Museum of Tolerance. He served for 16 years on the California State University
board of trustees.
He purchased singer Engelbert Humperdinck
's 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) Los Angeles estate for $30 million. He also bought a ranch in Aspen, Colorado
for $46 million from movie mogul Peter Guber
.
owner of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest
, which was once one of the United States's largest sub-prime mortgage lenders
. By the end of 2005 two of Arnall's companies, Ameriquest and Argent, had funded almost $ 75 billion in subprime loans. A major factor of this development was Arnall's origination of the stated income loan, meaning loans were given without verification of income. In early 2006, the company announced a $325 million settlement with state attorneys general and law enforcement agencies and financial regulators in 49 states and the District of Columbia who had accused Ameriquest of misrepresenting and failing to disclose loan terms, charging excessive loan origination fees and inflating appraisals to qualify borrowers for loans.
In 2007 Arnall got out of the mortgage business having sold most of it to Citigroup
for an undisclosed amount.
On August 1, 2005, President George W Bush nominated Arnall to become the U.S. ambassador
to the Netherlands. The Senate
approved his nomination on February 9, 2006. Arnall was installed as ambassador on March 8, 2006 when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands received Arnall's letters of credence.
Arnall announced his resignation as ambassador on February 21, 2008, effective on March 7, citing the ill health of his son. A few weeks later, on March 17, 2008, Arnall died of cancer according to FOX Business at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, twelve days shy of his 69th birthday.
.
In the 2003-2005 period, Arnall and his wife raised more than $12 million for George W. Bush
's political efforts, including $5 million for the Progress for America Voter Fund, a self-proclaimed "conservative issue advocacy organization dedicated to keeping the issue record straight." Arnall was quoted as saying his support for Bush stemmed for his stance on Israel. In 2004 he was one of the top 10 donors to the Republican Party
.
Mrs. Arnall also served as a co-chair for the 2004 Republican Convention and hosted a $1 million Bush-Cheney fund-raiser at the couple's 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) home in Holmby Hills
. In 2005, Ameriquest Capital and three of its subsidiaries comprised four of the 53 entities that each contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush
. Writes USA Today, "Inaugural fundraisers Dawn and Roland Arnall found a creative way to pump more than the $250,000 limit into the event. Their mortgage firm, Ameriquest Capital, contributed the maximum, as did three subsidiaries, for a total of $1 million. The company declined to comment on its political giving."
In order to circumvent campaign finance laws, Arnall mandated that Ameriquest staffers, on company time, solicit campaign contributions from vendors and directed to selected candidates, including Antonio Villaraigosa
, now Mayor of Los Angeles.
to receive the donation, and a short while later sent in a down payment of $180,000.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
and diplomat
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
. As the owner of ACC Capital Holdings, he became a billionaire
Billionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
with Ameriquest Mortgage
Ameriquest Mortgage
Ameriquest was one of the United States' leading wholesale lenders, and the largest sub-prime lender in the nation until all but four of its top-performing retail offices were closed in September of 2007. Its loan origination practices were at the heart of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010...
. He was co-founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
, and from 2006 until shortly before his death he was the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
The United States diplomatic mission to the Netherlands consists of the embassy located in The Hague and a consular office located in Amsterdam.In 1782, John Adams was appointed America's first Minister Plenipotentiary to Holland...
.
Personal life
Roland Arnall was born on March 29, 1939 in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. His parents were Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an Jews who had fled to Paris. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Arnall was raised as a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in a French village. He was kept unaware of being a Jew until after the war had ended, when he was six years old.
After the war, Arnall and his family moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In the late 1950s they relocated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and for a while Arnall sold flowers on the streets of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In 1977, Arnall a longtime supporter of Israel helped found the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
, and the Museum of Tolerance. He served for 16 years on the California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
board of trustees.
He purchased singer Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
's 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) Los Angeles estate for $30 million. He also bought a ranch in Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
for $46 million from movie mogul Peter Guber
Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber is an American film producer and executive and Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment...
.
Ameriquest
Arnall was the billionaireBillionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
owner of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest
Ameriquest Mortgage
Ameriquest was one of the United States' leading wholesale lenders, and the largest sub-prime lender in the nation until all but four of its top-performing retail offices were closed in September of 2007. Its loan origination practices were at the heart of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010...
, which was once one of the United States's largest sub-prime mortgage lenders
Subprime lending
In finance, subprime lending means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule...
. By the end of 2005 two of Arnall's companies, Ameriquest and Argent, had funded almost $ 75 billion in subprime loans. A major factor of this development was Arnall's origination of the stated income loan, meaning loans were given without verification of income. In early 2006, the company announced a $325 million settlement with state attorneys general and law enforcement agencies and financial regulators in 49 states and the District of Columbia who had accused Ameriquest of misrepresenting and failing to disclose loan terms, charging excessive loan origination fees and inflating appraisals to qualify borrowers for loans.
In 2007 Arnall got out of the mortgage business having sold most of it to Citigroup
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
for an undisclosed amount.
Ambassador to the Netherlands
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the Netherlands. The Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
approved his nomination on February 9, 2006. Arnall was installed as ambassador on March 8, 2006 when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands received Arnall's letters of credence.
Arnall announced his resignation as ambassador on February 21, 2008, effective on March 7, citing the ill health of his son. A few weeks later, on March 17, 2008, Arnall died of cancer according to FOX Business at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, twelve days shy of his 69th birthday.
Family
Arnall and his wife, Dawn, were longtime, generous political contributors, giving to both parties, according to Federal Election Commission records. Arnall had two children with his first wife Sally, Daniel and Michelle.Political activities
Since 2002, Arnall had given campaign contributions to California politicians including Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
.
In the 2003-2005 period, Arnall and his wife raised more than $12 million for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's political efforts, including $5 million for the Progress for America Voter Fund, a self-proclaimed "conservative issue advocacy organization dedicated to keeping the issue record straight." Arnall was quoted as saying his support for Bush stemmed for his stance on Israel. In 2004 he was one of the top 10 donors to the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
.
Mrs. Arnall also served as a co-chair for the 2004 Republican Convention and hosted a $1 million Bush-Cheney fund-raiser at the couple's 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) home in Holmby Hills
Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California
Holmby Hills is an affluent neighborhood in the district of Westwood in western Los Angeles. It is bordered by the city of Beverly Hills on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, Westwood on the west, and Bel Air on the north. Sunset Boulevard is the area's principal thoroughfare which divides...
. In 2005, Ameriquest Capital and three of its subsidiaries comprised four of the 53 entities that each contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Writes USA Today, "Inaugural fundraisers Dawn and Roland Arnall found a creative way to pump more than the $250,000 limit into the event. Their mortgage firm, Ameriquest Capital, contributed the maximum, as did three subsidiaries, for a total of $1 million. The company declined to comment on its political giving."
In order to circumvent campaign finance laws, Arnall mandated that Ameriquest staffers, on company time, solicit campaign contributions from vendors and directed to selected candidates, including Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
, now Mayor of Los Angeles.
Last will and testament
SHMAIS.com (Lubavitch News Website) reported that Chabad of California was to be the beneficiary of an $18 million donation from the estate of Roland Arnall. According to their source, before his passing, he made arrangements for Rabbi Shlomo CuninShlomo Cunin
Rabbi Shlomo Cunin is the director of Chabad-Lubavitch of California, activities on the West Coast of the United States...
to receive the donation, and a short while later sent in a down payment of $180,000.