Rodney Adler - Biography

Rodney Stephens Adler (born 19 August 1959) is an Australian businessman and former director of telecommunications company One.Tel and insurance company HIH, both of which collapsed in 2001. He was jailed in 2005 for his conduct related to the collapse of HIH.

Early life

Adler is the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrant, Larry Adler, who founded the insurance company FAI in 1960. He was educated at Cranbrook School, where One.Tel founder Jodee Rich was a classmate. He obtained degrees of Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and Master of Economics from Macquarie University and is a qualified chartered accountant.

He is married to Lyndi and has four children: Jason, Romi, Natalie and Charlotte.

Business

Adler's criminal case related to a series of stock trades Mr Adler made in mid-2000 with HIH funds, less than a year before the insurance giant collapsed under a debt of more than $5 billion in what is still Australia's worst corporate disaster.

The trades involved the company Pacific Eagle Equity of which Rodney Adler was the sole director and beneficiary. In 2004, Adler bought close to $4 million worth of shares, in at least three separate transactions. The transactions had an inflationary effect on HIH's share price.

Adler was originally imprisoned in a low security facility but was subsequently moved to the higher security Bathurst Jail when it was discovered he was conducting prohibited business transactions from his cell.

Prison

On 13 October 2007, Adler was released from the St Heliers Correctional Centre in the Upper Hunter Valley on parole, after serving two and a half years of his sentence, spending time in nine different correctional facilities. Adler was reunited with his wife, Lyndi, and their four children at their mansion in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. Adler described the prison system as "Darwinian, degrading, outdated, boring and pointless" in an article written for The Bulletin magazine in December 2007.

He had been made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999, but surrendered the award after his criminal conviction.

Career since release

Adler has involved himself in various causes, including helping to promote the "Turn Friday Night Into Family Night" initiative of charismatic rabbi Shmuley Boteach, reportedly discussing the initiative with Pope Benedict in May 2010 during the Pope's weekly audience in St Peter's Square.

In 2010, Adler was reported to be providing consulting services on ethical business practices.

External links

• ASIC v Adler (2002) - Corporate Law Judgments

See also

• Ray Williams