Jules Kroll

Jules B. Kroll (born May 18, 1941) is an American businessman whose company, Kroll, Inc., is credited with founding the modern corporate investigations industry in 1972. In 2004, Kroll was sold to Marsh & McLennan Companies for $1.9 billion.

Jules Kroll
Born (1941-05-18) May 18, 1941
Bayside, Queens, U.S.
NationalityUnited States
EducationCornell University (B.A.)
Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder of Kroll Bond Rating Agency
and K2 Intelligence
Spouse(s)Lynn Korda
Children4, including Nick Kroll

In 2009, Kroll founded two successor firms, Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) and K2 Intelligence.[1] KBRA is the first bond rating agency formed since the financial crisis of 2007–08. K2 Intelligence, run by Kroll's son Jeremy, continues the family's work in asset recovery, due diligence, litigation support, and a range of corporate investigations.

Early life and education

Jules Kroll was born to a Jewish family[2] on May 18, 1941, in Bayside, Queens, the son of Florence Yondorf and Herman Kroll.[3] His father ran a printing business that was subject to graft and demands for kickbacks from purchasing agents. Kroll attended Cornell University, where he was a member of Quill and Dagger, and Georgetown University Law Center.[4]

Career

Business

In 1968, he worked for Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in Queens before becoming an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. When his father fell ill, Kroll took a leave of absence to run the family business, which eventually became a three-year introduction to business corruption.[4] With this experience under his belt, in 1972 he launched J. Kroll Associates, which eventually turned into Kroll, Inc. The business involved rooting out corruption in companies that did much printing, with Kroll keeping a percentage of the savings. A deal with Marvel Comics proved so profitable to both sides that Marvel switched to paying a retainer.

Expansion

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 generated new lines of business in auditing and compliance, so Kroll opened offices in Paris, Moscow, São Paulo, Tokyo, Singapore, and Manila. The firm also provided political risk and executive protection services abroad. Wep Kroll forayed into banking and warehousing and built a reputation for pursuing financial crime across international borders by tracing and recovering assets. Clients included law firms like Skadden, Arps and investment banks like Drexel Burnham Lambert (which hired Kroll in 1982 to perform due diligence on persons and companies that it was underwriting). It first helped Nokia and Motorola find $2.7 billion that had been invested with Turkey's Cem Uzan. It was also hired to recover wealth that had been plundered by dictators, including the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos and Haiti's Jean-Claude Duvalier. In 1991 the government of Kuwait hired it to trace Saddam Hussein's corporate holdings around the world, including Hachette in France.

K2 Intelligence and Kroll Bond Rating Agency

In June 2008, Kroll left his company and unsuccessfully tried to buy it back from MMC. In 2010 he launched Kroll Bond Rating Agency and K2 Global Consulting with his son Jeremy. In 2012, K2 Global became K2 Intelligence. Kroll Bond Rating Agency was started with capital from Jeff Keswin, Michael F. Price, Frederick R. Adler, William L. Mack, and James Robinson III; Bessemer Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, and New Markets Venture Partners also invested $24 million.[5][6]

K2 Intelligence has offices in New York, London, Madrid, and Bahrain. In 2010, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany engaged K2 Global Consulting to investigate the theft of $42.5 million.[7]

Personal life

He is married to Lynn Korda, who served as the vice chairwoman of the UJA-Federation of New York.[8][9] They have two sons, Jeremy and actor/comedian Nick,[10][11] and two daughters, Dana Kroll and Vanessa Kroll Bennett.[12] Vanessa is married to British-American soccer journalist Roger Bennett.[12]

References
  1. Neumann, Jeanette (August 15, 2012). "Kroll Rates Attention, But Travels Old Path". Wall Street Journal.
  2. New Yorker Magazine: "The Secret Keeper - Jules Kroll and the world of corporate intelligence" By William Finnegan October 19, 2009
  3. "Paid Notice: Deaths KROLL, FLORENCE (NEE YONDORF)". June 10, 1999 – via NYTimes.com.
  4. Finnegan, William (October 19, 2009). "The Secret Keeper". The New Yorker.
  5. Fabrikant, Geraldine (August 28, 2009). "Corporate Sleuth Plans to Start Credit Rating Firm". The New York Times.
  6. Morrissey, Jane (February 26, 2011). "A Corporate Sleuth Tries the Credit Rating Field". The New York Times.
  7. "Father & Son Detective Duo". Fortune. December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  8. New York Times: "WEDDING; Niccole Siegel, Jeremy Kroll" October 28, 2001
  9. Jewish Weekly: "UJC hires private detectives to plug leaks on Arafat" by STEVEN ROSENBERG BNovember 19, 1999
  10. Barshad, Amos (2009-10-29). "Cavemen Alumnus Nick Kroll on His New Show, The League". Vulture.com. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  11. Megan Barnett (December 1, 2010). "Nick Kroll: The other, other Kroll". Fortune.
  12. New York Times: "WEDDINGS; Vanessa Kroll, Roger Bennett" October 29, 2000
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