Age, Biography and Wiki

Ernest Saunders (Ernest Walter Schleyer) was born on 21 October, 1935 in Austria, is a British former Global CEO (born 1935). Discover Ernest Saunders's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 88 years old?

Popular As Ernest Walter Schleyer
Occupation Business manager
Age 88 years old
Zodiac Sign Libra
Born 21 October, 1935
Birthday 21 October
Birthplace Austria
Nationality Austria

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 21 October. He is a member of famous manager with the age 88 years old group.

Ernest Saunders Height, Weight & Measurements

At 88 years old, Ernest Saunders height not available right now. We will update Ernest Saunders's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Ernest Saunders's Wife?

His wife is Carole Ann Stephing

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Carole Ann Stephing
Sibling Not Available
Children Two sons and one daughter

Ernest Saunders Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Ernest Saunders worth at the age of 88 years old? Ernest Saunders’s income source is mostly from being a successful manager. He is from Austria. We have estimated Ernest Saunders's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income manager

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Timeline

1935

Ernest Walter Saunders (born 21 October 1935) is a British former business manager.

He became known in the UK as one of the "Guinness Four", a group of businessmen who attempted fraudulently to manipulate the share price of the Guinness company.

He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but released after 10 months as he was believed to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

He subsequently recovered.

1938

He was born Ernest Walter Schleyer in Austria and moved to the United Kingdom in 1938 when his parents, a Jewish gynaecologist and an Austrian mother, emigrated to escape Nazi rule.

He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

1963

He married Carole Ann Stephing in 1963, and has two sons and one daughter.

1981

He had a career in management with Beecham, Great Universal Stores and Nestlé before becoming chief executive of Guinness plc (now a part of Diageo plc) in 1981, remaining in the position until 1986.

He was renowned for his ruthless cost-cutting efficiency, earning from his employees the sobriquet 'Deadly Ernest'.

1986

Under his charge, early in 1986, Guinness plc launched a friendly takeover bid for Edinburgh-based Distillers Company plc, which was being stalked by a hostile bidder.

This was effected by quietly boosting the Guinness share price.

1990

Subsequent to the bid, which resulted in success for Guinness, Saunders was charged (along with Jack Lyons, Anthony Parnes and Gerald Ronson) and convicted on 27 August 1990 of counts of conspiracy to contravene section 13(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958, false accounting and theft, in relation to dishonest conduct in a share support operation (see Guinness share-trading fraud).

1991

On 16 May 1991, the sentence was reduced to two and a half years.

By a majority of 16-4 the ECtHR found that there was a breach of Article 6.

The court rejected the argument of the British government that the complexity of large fraud cases and the public interest in securing a conviction justified the compulsion; the court also rejected the argument that power of a trial judge to exclude admissions was a defence in this case.

The court stated that "the public interest cannot be invoked to justify the use of answers compulsorily obtained in a non-judicial investigation to incriminate the accused during the trial proceedings" and "the prosecution in a criminal case [must] seek to prove their case against the accused without resort to evidence obtained through methods of coercion or oppression in defiance of the will of the accused."

Saunders was awarded legal costs of £75,000.

Saunders worked as a business consultant, including advising mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse from its early days until prior to its flotation.

He was later appointed chairman of the executive committee of a US-based multinational petrol credit-card company, Harpur-Gelco.

Saunders also acted as a consultant to Seed International Ltd, a company based in the Cayman Islands.

Seed offered investments in a variety of fields including wine, property, oil and gas exploration through Ocean International Marketing, their sales subsidiary with offices in Rotterdam.

2002

A series of appeals was finally dismissed in December 2002, although a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in Saunders v. the United Kingdom declared that the defendants were denied a fair trial by being compelled to provide potentially self-incriminatory information to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) inspectors which was then used as primary evidence against them.

This breached their privilege against self-incrimination.

While there was no suggestion that Saunders himself sought to or actually did profit from these offences in an immediate or direct manner, the allegation was that they were committed to increase the likelihood of their company's takeover bid succeeding.

His board of directors at Guinness plc was not informed of, and had not sanctioned, his arrangements, which included indemnities for unknowable amounts.

He had passed $100 million to the American Ivan Boesky to invest shortly before Boesky's prosecution and imprisonment for insider trading, and following that investigation Saunders' plans were revealed to the DTI in Britain.

Saunders appealed against his prison sentence of five years and three expert witnesses appeared at the Appeal Court.

A consultant neurologist acting for the Crown, Dr Perkins, said that Saunders was suffering from depression rather than Alzheimer's disease.

One of the other expert witnesses, another neurologist, used brain scans and other evidence to indicate that Saunders's brain was abnormally small for a man of his age, an observation which he said was consistent with a brain disease diagnosis.

He subsequently recovered.