Tevfik Arif
Tevfik Arif (born May 1953) is a Kazakh real estate developer and investor. He is the founder of the Bayrock Group.
Early life and career
Tevfik Arif was born Tofic Arifov in Cambul in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in May 1953.<ref name="Black Sea1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Sorbello"/> He received an international relations degree from a Moscow university.<ref name="Black Sea1"/> Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Arif worked for the USSR's Ministry of Commerce and Trade for 17 years. He served as the deputy director of its Department of Hotel Management.<ref name="NYDN">Template:Cite news</ref> Arif resigned from the ministry in 1991 and founded Speciality Chemicals Trading Company, an export-import business trading in rare metals, chrome, and raw materials.<ref name="Black Sea1"/><ref name="FT2"/> He then worked as an "agent on the ground" in Kazakhstan for Trans World Group, a natural resources company run by David and Simon Reuben.<ref name="Black Sea1"/>
Arif moved to Turkey in 1993. He had owned the Turkish jewellery business Alset Dis Ticaret since 1979.<ref name="Black Sea1"/> In 1999, Arif partnered with the Rixos hotel chain to open the Labada luxury hotel in Antalya, Turkey.<ref name="FT">Template:Cite news</ref>
Following the independence of Kazakhstan, Arif and his brother secured ownership of ACCP, a chromium plant in Aktobe that had headquarters in the British Virgin Islands.<ref name="Sorbello">Template:Cite news</ref> The brothers developed ties to the Kazakh Trio — Alexander Mashkevitch, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov. They later established offshore real estate companies to fund high-end developments in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.<ref name="Sorbello"/>
Later career
Bayrock Group
In 2001, Arif moved some of his businesses to the United States<ref name="Sorbello"/> and founded the Bayrock Group, a real estate development company. He began developing property in Brooklyn, first redeveloping Loehmann's Seaport Plaza, a waterfront shopping center in Sheepshead Bay.<ref name="NYDN"/> Arif was originally the sole employee of Bayrock, later hiring Felix Sater as managing director.<ref name="FT2"/>
After moving the Bayrock Group to Trump Tower, Arif developed a relationship with billionaire businessman Donald Trump. Trump provided a licensing deal for the Trump SoHo hotel in a joint venture between the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organisation.<ref name="Nance"/> In 2007, Bayrock traded future profits from Trump SoHo and other projects in exchange for $50 million in financing from Icelandic company FL Group. The arrangement led Bayrock's finance director to file racketeering lawsuits, alleging that money was diverted to people outside the company, including Salvatore Lauria, an associate of Sater's.<ref name="FT2"/>
Trump and Bayrock later developed the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale. Arif also worked to introduce Trump to investors from Russia.<ref name="Nance">Template:Cite book</ref> Through Bayrock, Arif collaborated with Trump on projects in Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Arizona, Colorado, New York, and Florida.<ref name="FT2">Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Arif is believed to live in Turkey.<ref name="FT2"/> He owns a mansion in Port Washington.<ref name="politicothehappygolucky">Template:Cite news</ref> Although he is not Jewish, he is one of the largest donors to the Chabad of Port Washington.<ref name="politicothehappygolucky"/>
