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Juan Sartori
Juan José Sartori Piñeyro (born 6 February 1981) is a Uruguayan businessman, senator and co-owner of Sunderland A.F.C..[1] He is the president and founder of Union Group, a privately owned investment management and private equity firm that holds significant interests across an array of industries worldwide, including agriculture, technology, energy and real estate.[2][3][4] Early lifeSartori was born at the Italian Hospital in the capital city of Montevideo on 6 February 1981 to Gustavo Sartori and Rosina Piñeyro.[5] Sartori is of paternal Italian and maternal Spanish descent. At the age of twelve, Sartori moved to Europe and lived in a number of countries, starting in France, while his mother worked for the United Nations. He went on to study in Switzerland, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in economics and business from the University of Lausanne in 2002. He was also a short-term exchange student at Harvard University.[6] CareerUnion GroupSartori's business career began in Switzerland in 2003 when, having just graduated from university, he founded Union Capital Group, which evolved into a multi-billion-dollar assets under management investment firm. Expanding into private equity, Sartori set up Union Group in Uruguay in 2007 with a blueberry farming business.[7] To seek out further investors, Sartori and his business partner, Oscar Costa, recruited Ernesto Cardozo Vasquez, who served as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries in Uruguay between 2003- 2005 to lead the investment rounds. Sartori's methods sometimes included exaggeration, such as saying that Vasquez was the only agronomist with a doctorate in Uruguay.[8] Since its incorporation, Union Group and its subsidiaries have performed numerous transactions across the world, growing its portfolio of private and public companies.[9] In 2013, Union Group's agricultural arm, one of the biggest agricultural organizations in Uruguay, floated on the Montevideo Stock Exchange. In June 2014, it accounted for approximately 70 percent of its market capitalisation, making it the largest company listed on the exchange.[10] In 2010, Sartori began investing in energy generation projects. In 2013, Union Group acquired hydropower company Generacion Andina from German utility firm EnBW.[11] In 2018, Polaris Infrastructure Inc. (TSX: PIF), a Canadian business, purchased Union Group's energy division.[12] In June 2018, UAG eventually had to shrink its territory due to debts, and Vasquez left, followed by Sartori and Costa, who claimed to leave on their own accord but were actually voted out by board shareholders.[13] According to the local news outlet Busqueda, this was due to a questionable deal orchestrated by Sartori in which he advised a client of his separate investment company to purchase shares in a rice company, then had UAG buy those same shares at a significantly higher price.[14][15] Investor Charles Brown accused Sartori of diverting "money from UAG to his personal expenses” and called him “an expert in corruption”.[16] Sartori is the co-founder and chairman of NYSE-listed Union Acquisition Corp (UAC), a SPAC or blank check company, which has taken a number of organizations public over recent years, such as crop technology firm Bioceres Crop Solutions (Nasdaq: BIOX) in 2018, and global healthcare business, Procaps Group (Nasdaq: PROC) in 2021.[17][18][19] PoliticsIn December 2018, Sartori presented his nomination to National Party pre-candidate for President of Uruguay for the 2019 presidential primaries.[20][21] The election was held on 30 June 2019. Sartori carried out a noteworthy campaign, labelled a "political phenomenon" by the Associated Press.[22] He collected 20.68% of the vote, which saw him finish second of six behind Luis Lacalle Pou, who was elected as the party's candidate[23] The Atlante Films documentary "Juan Sartori: behind the phenomenon" follows Sartori on the campaign trail.[24][25] Following Sartori's election run, his press chief press officer during the election resigned, accusing Sartori of 'selling smoke' and stating that she 'does not believe him anymore'.[26] Sartori ran for the Senate in the October 2019 general election and was elected senator, making him the youngest person to currently hold this title, taking up the position on 15 February 2020.[27][28] He sits on the Senate Committees of International Affairs, Environment, Development and Inclusion, and is president of the Industry Committee.[29] Additionally, he forms part of the Partido Nacional's governing body.[30] FootballSartori is a passionate football fan.[31] He is a co-owner of Sunderland. "Sunderland is a huge club, the seventh largest in England, a club with a lot of history and a big following, and that’s what made it attractive", he said following the 2018 acquisition.[32] He sits on the board as a non-executive director.[33] In 2022, the club, based in the North East of England, won the League One playoffs, and played following season in the EFL Championship, the second most important division in English football.[34] He is also a board member and vice president of Monaco.[35] In terms of support, Sartori is a fan of Club Nacional, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.[36] ControversiesSartori has been in an ongoing dispute with the Uruguayan 'Anti-Corruption Board' over financial disclosure requirements related to his wife's assets. In February 2020, Sartori submitted a sworn statement of assets as required by Uruguayan law, but JUTEP deemed it incomplete, requesting additional details, including information on his spouse’s assets. Despite submitting a supplementary declaration in 2021, Sartori maintained that, due to his marital separation of assets, he was not responsible for his wife’s finances.[37] In 2023, Uruguay's Supreme Court upheld JUTEP's right to request the information. Sartori, however, continued to resist, leading Parliament to sanction him with a 50% salary reduction starting January 2024.[38] In 2019, it was uncovered that Sartori had appeared in documents delivered by Union Group as a graduate of Harvard University. Following this, Harvard University confirmed that Sartori did not appear in its directory of alumni, and clarified that being a visiting student does not make you a graduate.[39][40] In 2021, French billionaire Herve Vinciguerra filed a lawsuit in the British Virgin Islands accusing Sartori of conspiring to divert assets from UAG for personal gain, allegedly at the expense of minority shareholders.[41] In September 2024, it was reported that Sartori had been accused of fraud and conspiracy by two former European investors.[42] The claim in the UK High Court alleges that Sartori repeatedly misled investors into investing into shares of a related company and falsely represented both the value and risk of said investment.[43] Following these revelations, media speculation has ensued over Sartori's future as Sunderland co-owner, in light of the Football Governance Bill.[44] Personal lifeSartori married Russian heiress and equestrian Ekaterina Rybolovleva on 21 October 2015, and as a result, Sartori's father-in-law is Russian oligarch and billionaire businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, who is the majority owner and president of Monaco's football club Monaco.[45] The wedding was held on the Greek island of Skorpios, which she bought from Athina Onassis in 2013.[46] Together, the couple have three children: Isabella, Alexander John and Giulia Victoria.[47] References
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