Rodney Adler

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Rodney Adler AM (born on August 19, 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 role in the collapse of HIH.

1 Early life
2 Business
- 2.1 HIH Insurance
3 Criminal charges
4 References

[edit] Early life

Adler was born on 19 August 1959, the son of a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, Larry Adler, who founded the insurance company FAI in 1960. He was educated at the exclusive 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.

[edit] Business

In 1988, Adler became chief executive of FAI at age 29 after his father's sudden death. He turned the insurance company into a vehicle for diversified investment.

The telecommunications company One.Tel was launched in 1995 with FAI owning 18% and Adler serving as a director.

[edit] HIH Insurance

Main article: HIH Insurance

In late 1998, a takeover of FAI by HIH Insurance commenced. This was completed in January 1999, for a total amount of about A$300 million, with FAI becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of HIH. In April Adler was appointed to the HIH board and also hired as a consultant.

Adler was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to the insurance industry and philanthropy in 1999.

However, Adler's business dealings were not going well. In 1999 he quipped to a journalist: "You've read my father's biography? It's called From Cabbie to Chairman. Sometimes, I felt I was working on the sequel, From Chairman to Cabbie." [1]

In February 2001, Adler sold 5 million One.Tel shares for $2.5 million. This move became controversial as an administrator was appointed to the company in May and the winding up of the company began.

On 15 March 2001 HIH Insurance was placed into liquidation. This was the largest corporate failure in Australian history. A Royal Commission was established which reported in 2003. The Commissioner identified HIH's purchase of FAI as one of the major factors in its collapse. (For more information see Wikipedia's article on the collapse.)

In 2002 as the result of civil action brought by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission over his attempts to prop up HIH's share price using its own funds, Adler was fined A$900 000, banned from acting as a director for 20 years, and ordered to pay A$8 million to the HIH liquidator.

[edit] Criminal charges

Adler pleaded guilty on 16 February 2005 to criminal charges of disseminating false information in order to support HIH's share price and lying to obtain HIH funds to support his own business interests. He was sentenced on 14 April 2005 to four and a half years jail, with a non-parole period of two and a half years. The judge, Justice John Dunford, said Adler's offences displayed "an appalling lack of commercial morality". [2]

In the same month Adler also handed back his Order of Australia medal. He has since been disciplined for secretly conducting business affairs from jail.