Ian Maxwell (born 1956) is a British businessman and co-founder of the think tank Combating Jihadist Terrorism. In the 1990s, Maxwell was acquitted of charges of criminal financial malpractice relating to the business practices of his father, publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell.[1]
Ian Maxwell was appointed chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers plc (MGN) following the death of his father on 5 November 1991.[5] For the next month, the group was the subject of speculation regarding its financial position. On 3 December 1991, Maxwell and his brother Kevin resigned from the board of Maxwell Communication Corporation and nine hours later resigned from MGN, following the disclosure that "many million" of pounds had been transferred from the Mirror Group pension fund to Robert Maxwell's private companies apparently without due authority.[6] MGN announced: "Because of increasing conflicts of interest, Ian Maxwell, chairman and publisher of MGN, Kevin Maxwell, and Michael Stoney, who has a major management involvement in the Maxwell private companies, have today resigned from the board of MGN and its subsidiaries and have also ceased their executive duties in the MGN Group."[6]
On 19 June 1992, Ian Maxwell, Kevin Maxwell, and their financial advisor Larry Trachtenberg were arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud others of millions of dollars.[7][8] In January 1996, all three were acquitted.[2][9]
In 1995, Maxwell was involved with Maximov Publications, a company with a focus on content about Russia and the Soviet Union's former republics.[2]
The Scotsman reported in 2001 that Maxwell was a director of 31 companies and also worked for Westbourne Communications, a public relations firm which represented Telemonde.[10]
Maxwell announced in September 2018 that he and his brother Kevin had founded a UK think tank, Combating Jihadist Terrorism (CoJit), with the aim of better understanding terrorism and its causes.[11] As of 2020, Maxwell was CoJit's director.[1]
Personal life
In 1991, Maxwell married Laura Marie Plumb, a television executive, born in Chicago, currently a Vedic scholar and practitioner of Ayurveda, Jyotish, and yoga.[12][13] They announced their separation in 1996,[12] and the pair later divorced. Maxwell remarried in 1999 to Tara Dudley Smith.[2]
In March 2021, Maxwell expressed concern about the welfare in a US prison of his sister Ghislaine who was then awaiting trial on criminal charges relating to her association with Jeffrey Epstein.[14]
^"MGN continues to achieve 'highly satisfactory' results: Ian Maxwell". AFX News. AFP-Extel News. 7 November 1991.
^ abNisse, Jason; Waterhouse, Rosie (4 December 1991). "Maxwells quit Mirror board; Serious Fraud Office set to investigate transfer of pension funds to firms controlled by Robert Maxwell". The Independent. Independent News & Media. p. 1.