Vasile "Frank" Timiș | |
---|---|
Born |
Borşa, Romania |
28 January 1963
Known for | Industrialist, Natural Resources |
Frank Timiș (born Vasile Frank Timiș, 1964) is a Romanian-Australian businessman living in London, with interests in mining and oil extraction industries. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at £162m (U$238m) as of April 2008[update], making him the 497th richest person in Britain. The Romanian magazine Capital reckoned Timiș to be the 9th richest Romanian, estimating his wealth at $290m as of 2006[update]. In 2012 he became the richest Romanian with a net worth of £1.34 billion (US$2.13 billion).
Born in Borșa, Maramureș County, he graduated from a vocational school for auto mechanics. He left Romania and settled as a refugee in Perth, Australia. Whilst in Australia he was convicted of possession of heroin with intent to supply and fined A$27,000.
Timiș started his own transport company in Australia, which owned only one truck driven by himself. However, it went bankrupt in 1986 with debts of 15,806 AUD. According to Jurnalul Național, Timiș failed to declare this fact in the CV he published when he listed the company Gabriel Resources on the , as required by law.
In 1992, he became the CEO of Morwest Holdings Pty Ltd, the first of his gold mining businesses. Timiș and two Australian miners dug for six months for gold in a region called Mosquito Creek, but the result was a failure. In the meantime, he founded another three companies: Riverdale Mining, Timis Corporation, and Carpathian Investments, together with Ioana Timiș and his sister, Ioana Majdik. However, these companies were liquidated by Timiș, and all creditors were paid in full.