The Man in Miami - 5302 Fisher Island Drive

part 2

from Jyllands-Posten, Denmark, 28th Oct 2001

By ORLA BORG, JAKOB RUBIN and MICHAEL ULVEMAN

 

On the map of the world and in world politics, few countries play as modest a role as Belize, which is situated next to the Caribbean between the Mexican peninsula of Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

To Tvind, however, the small country is of immense importance. It is a goldmine, a veritable money machine.

In 10 years, Tvind has become Belize’s largest producer of bananas in particular. In addition, the Tvind organisation produces other agricultural products in Belize such as mangoes, chilli peppers, oranges, grapefruits and limes. Furthermore, Tvind is engaged in shrimp farming and logging in the jungle.

 

All Tvind activities in Belize are managed by a discreet foreigner known to most people as Mr Sorensen – alias Søren Sørensen, a Dane and long-time member of The Teachers’ Group.

 

During the past 12 months, he has bought three more banana plantations and is now the largest producer in the country. Financially, it is an unconditional success story.

 

Every week trucks transport 35,000 crates of bananas from Mr Sorensen’s plantations to banana boats in the port of Big Creek, corresponding to 40 per cent of Belize’s total production.

 

The locals are paying the price for the success of Tvind: Poor conditions of employment, wages often below minimum level, and problems being paid.

 

SPEAR, the human rights organisation, has prepared a report on the banana industry in Belize. Particularly banana plantations managed by Mr Sorensen were criticised in the report. BGA, the association of banana growers, blamed the dominating Mr Sorensen in the wake of the criticism launched.

 

“The Danes are getting frighteningly large in Belize. It may become a problem to Belize in the long run,” says Alvyn Henderson, a consultant in BGA and the former manager of some of the plantations of Tvind.

Tvind is thriving on opposition. Since its founding, Amdi’s creation has proved that external difficulties strengthen internal solidarity.

 

In Belize, 2000 banana workers are growing increasingly resentful of the Dane and his staff of fanatic Scandinavians, six in all.

 

The locals wonder why there is never any money. However, they have heard a tale: At a meeting in a shack belonging to a banana worker family, four of them told Jyllands-Posten’s reporters what they had heard:

“The plantations do not belong to him. They belong to his father, a very tough man. All the money earned by Mr Sorensen is sent to his father. That is why he never has any money for wages.”

 

There are no shacks on Fisher Island. The path round the island is paved with dodecagonal, red flagstones placed in neat symmetry. It winds its way along the water and makes a perfect jogging track. The tall, grey-haired man sometimes brings his two Leonbergers when jogging. The large dogs come up to his hip. He takes the lift down and turns left round the building.

 

To his right he can see another worldwide Danish company. The Maersk shipping company dominates the freight port of Miami, and container vessels frequently call at the port right in front of Amdi’s windows. A few minutes later Amdi and his dogs pass the marina with hundred-million-dollar yachts – and the slow sea cows. A bit further ahead stands the clubhouse of the Fisher Island Golf Club.

 

Mogens Amdi Petersen runs along the first hole – par 4 – of the golf course lying to his left. To his right is the marina. He returns to the path along the water and now has the ocean to his right. Trotting heavily, he nears the historic domicile of William Vanderbilt, the famous industrialist. Today, it makes out the main building of the hotel with coral portals and parrots chattering at guests.

 

Outside the hotel Amdi passes the hotel marina with the luxury yacht “Grey Mist III”. Often a Rolls Royce with light leather upholstery is parked on the quay. He runs past the beach with imported sand from the Bahamas and proceeds to the stretch of the most fashionable addresses, which, in contrast to Amdi’s penthouse, is overlooking the ocean. Here, residents use their front porches for exhibitions of art collections and sculptures. A flat has Chinese vases from floor to ceiling; another a black, carved fertility figure of a woman with her legs spread and her hands gathered for prayer in front of her forehead.

 

Mogens Amdi Petersen passes the golf club again.

 

Here, acquaintance made of Mr Petersen is extremely positive.

“He is one of our best customers in the pro shop. He buys a lot of golf clubs,” says a former coach at the club.

Mr Petersen is known for being extremely discreet and secretive. He never uses his name and is not registered anywhere as resident or owner. Except for one place.

 

In connection with the purchase of the penthouse, Mogens Amdi Petersen was forced to become a member of the Fisher Island Club, which is responsible for all facilities on the island – the hotel, the golf and tennis clubs, an internationally renowned spa etc., etc. The membership fee is 98,479 dollars.

 

The membership number of Mogens Amdi Petersen is E0070. He shares his membership with Anne Hansen, his longstanding, faithful supporter and mistress. The information given by Amdi is very sparse. M. Petersen is the name. However, he has given the correct date of birth, 9 January 1939.

 

Kirsten Larsen, his girlfriend, has also acquired membership of the club. Her membership number is E9006. E stands for Equity Member, which means that both Petersen and Larsen are co-owners of the club.

 

Mogens Amdi Petersen seldom shows up in the club bar or The Snooker Club reserved for club owners.

However, during one of his rare visits to the bar about five years ago, he met Oscar Carucci – a fitness trainer whose clientele belong to Miami’s upper class. Amdi hired Carucci to train him and Kirsten Larsen personally in the fitness room of the penthouse.

 

Oscar Carucci quickly fell for Amdi’s charisma and convincing nature. Amdi was very reserved, according to Carucci. He seldom spoke of himself. However, he was good at giving advice, and the fitness trainer felt comfortable in the company of Amdi and Kirsten Larsen.

 

“Mr Petersen is first-class,” says Oscar Carucci.

“We had many, really fine conversations.”

 

Oscar Carucci is not keen on talking about his client. That is not something normally done in these circles. He says, however, that the Tvind leader offered him much advice as to how he might realise himself and fulfil his plans.

“It was always very inspiring to be with Mr Petersen. He motivated me. I felt strengthened after having enjoyed his company. He would always say to me: “If you have a dream, follow it.”

 

According to Oscar Carucci, Mogens Amdi Petersen and Kirsten Larsen treated him well. He remembers them telling him about their travels and about their farm in Zimbabwe where they had giraffes and zebras.

 

However, on thinking back he realises that they really never told him much about themselves. The African farm, though, is something important. He was under the impression that they were particularly fond of it. They always told him when they had bought more wild animals for it.

 

The relationship between the two Tvind bosses and Carucci became so close that at a certain time Carucci was allowed to borrow Amdi’s special exercise bike while he was away from Fisher Island.

 

Amdi and Kirsten Larsen complained to their fitness trainer about the difficulty of transporting their two permanent companions – the Leonbergers – between Africa and the US.

 

The dogs, by the way, represented a small problem that had to be solved. According to club rules on Fisher Island, only one dog is allowed per flat. And it does not matter whether there are 810 square metres in which to gambol around.

 

The problem was solved a year ago – on 13 October 2000. Tvind bought the flat at 5352 Fisher Island Drive for 792,640 dollars. The flat is situated five floors below Amdi’s penthouse. Birgitte Krohn, Amdi’s loyal esquire, handled the deal.

The purchase of the second flat makes it possible for the Tvind people to move between the two flats without having to leave the building. And the formalities concerning the two dogs were solved.

 

Mogens Amdi Petersen has also made sure that he can leave the penthouse and Fisher Island without being observed. From the 10th floor, he takes the lift to the underground car park in the basement where two Mercedes ML55 4WDs with 342 HP, 8-cylinder engines are at his disposal. The numbers of their Florida registration plates are T77 MHZ and T28 GIU. Both cars have toned windows, preventing a person from seeing from the outside who sits in the car.

Amdi never drives himself – the simple reason being that he does not have a driver’s licence. Kirsten Larsen is always behind the steering wheel, according to people in the building.

 

The behaviour of Mogens Amdi Petersen on Fisher Island includes all the features that have characterised him since the 1970s and that have made it possible for him to avoid the public and the authorities for 22 years.

 

He does not have any official position in the Tvind empire controlled by him. All positions are filled with long-standing loyal members of The Teachers’ Group. Mogens Amdi Petersen is formally described as an adviser or consultant, but no one doubts that he has total power. His unofficial control makes sure that he never needs to sign a document, be registered as an owner or give his name in any way.

 

Neither he nor Kirsten Larsen has a fixed-telephone number on Fisher Island. According to Oscar Carucci, Amdi always contacted him by a mobile, when the Tvind leader wanted some exercise. Amdi never gave his phone number even if Carucci was his personal trainer for four years.

 

Formally, Mogens Amdi Petersen has nothing to do with the penthouse. J. F. Parson, a Tvind company in Tampa, Florida, bought it on 18 December 1991. The purchase price was 4.3 million dollars. The people behind the deal were Danish Sten Byrner and Dutch Joop Nagel, two of Amdi’s assistants. Sten Byrner signed the cheque for 422,600 dollars issued in connection with the purchase. As security Joop Nagel presented a statement from his accountant certifying that he had personal assets totalling 15 million dollars.

 

Immediately upon the purchase, and in line with Tvind business methods - Markham Corporation, another Tvind company, bought the flat. Markham is registered in the British Virgin Island for tax purposes, and Kirsten Larsen and Birgitte Krohn, the loyal esquire, are on the board among others.

 

The same method was chosen in connection with the purchase of the dog flat at 5352 Fisher Island Drive last year.

That time Markham Corporation was the official buyer, but shortly after the deal had been closed, Xoreux Limited, another Tvind company, took over the flat.

 

The two flats are expensive investments. Beside the required fee of 98,479 dollars for membership of the Fisher Island Club, Tvind must pay an annual tax of four per cent of the value of the property. In addition, the organisation must share common expenses connected with living on Fisher Island.

 

To give an example: Mogens Amdi Petersen must contribute 102,000 dollars a year to the extensive service and maintenance scheme on Fisher Island. A similar amount is paid in the form of property tax to the state of Florida.

The dog flat costs 33,600 dollars a year in the form of taxes and club fees.

 

As a result, Mogens Amdi Petersen & Co. pay 21,617 dollars a month to live on Fisher Island – after payment of rates and club membership fees. He partakes in paying the wages of 550 employees on the island 50 of whom are involved in security, 50 take care of lawns and plants, 50 runs the ferry and the rest work in the club or at the hotel.

Amdi’s many companies, thousands of bank accounts all over the world and his superficial connection with the official power structure of the Tvind empire are among the difficulties troubling for instance the Danish police. A year ago the Danish police launched an investigation into the Tvind organisation, but not until April of this year did the police department of Holstebro in Northern Jutland and the serious fraud squad achieve a breakthrough. The police sequestered two dozen computers while searching Tvind’s Danish headquarters at Ulfborg near Holstebro, and after a few months the police succeeded in breaking the computer codes.

 

The many million documents found on the harddisks of the computers in question combine to give a picture of business methods in the Tvind empire, according to information obtained by Jyllands-Posten. The police feels sure that it will be able to prove that Mogens Amdi Petersen and Kirsten Larsen are involved in gross tax fraud and breach of trust to an amount of 9 million dollars with relation to The Humanitarian Foundation of Tvind despite the fact that several years ago Amdi learned the members of The Teachers’ Group never to mention him by name. He feared that the Danish intelligence agency might tap phones and rooms within the Tvind organisation. Instead, they were to use the synonym KLAP – a combination of the abbreviations of Kirsten Larsen and Amdi Petersen.

 

Despite progress by the police and hundreds of articles, reports and books on the subject, Amdi is still an enigma as was the case 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

 

Anyway, the rebel group of youngsters, led by Mogens Amdi Petersen, who set out on a world tour in the 1970s and today’s Tvind empire are miles apart. Many of the original Tvind followers have left. The souls of some have been wounded seriously. All have lost their money, family life and private property rights.

 

One can only guess whichever plans Amdi may concoct in his four-poster on Fisher Island. However, the Tvind movement has conquered the US, the world’s largest market, and has set up in the global finance centre of New York at 82 Wall Street. Tvind is described as “the fastest-growing cult in the US” in a lengthy article in the Boston Magazine and is compared to the Moon Movement.

 

Jay Cheshes, Boston Magazine reporter, has interviewed a number of US Tvind students. He particularly notes Amdi’s psychological dominance of his followers and wonders why Tvind is able to make its members give up everything for an unclear purpose.

 

The enigma still exists. Once Amdi watched the world from the lower layers of society and identified himself with them on the road towards an unknown goal. Today, the goal remains unknown. Amdi, however, has moved secretly with a helping hand from the Danish taxpayers and hundreds of supporters and loyalists.

 

He now watches the world from a penthouse on 10th floor, as one of the richest persons in the world.

 

http://www.jp.dk/dbp/internetavisen/indland/artikel&art_id=3494836