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Gavin de Becker | |
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Born | United States | October 26, 1954
Occupation(s) | Security specialist, author |
Known for | The Gift of Fear |
Gavin de Becker (born October 26, 1954) [1] is an American author and security specialist who has worked for governments, large corporations, and public figures. [2] Reportedly a billionaire, he runs Gavin de Becker and Associates, which he founded in 1978. [3] [4] [5] The firm protects and advises many of the world's most prominent public figures. He is the author of several books on violence, most notably The Gift of Fear , and his books have been published in twenty-five languages. [2]
Gavin de Becker is the son of Hal de Becker (1931–2021), an American dancer and prolific writer about dance. [6]
De Becker describes his childhood as mired in violence. His parents divorced when he was three. His mother was a heroin addict who physically abused him and his sister, and once shot his stepfather while de Becker was present in the home. She committed suicide when he was sixteen, and de Becker subsequently moved in with a friend from school, Miguel Ferrer, the son of actors José Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney. [7] He lived with the family for two years and would go on to work with Clooney as her road manager. He then worked as Elizabeth Taylor's assistant. [8]
At the age of 21, de Becker wrote an article about public figure protection in the private sector for a law enforcement journal. This was picked up by the Department of Justice's National Criminal Justice Center and made available to every police department in the United States. [9]
In the 1980s, together with the United States Marshals Service, de Becker co-designed the MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems, [10] which is used to screen threats to justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, members of United States Congress, and senior officials of the Central Intelligence Agency. Los Angeles County Law enforcement agencies adopted MOSAIC in 1997 to help police manage and reduce spousal abuse cases that might escalate to homicide. [11]
In 1983, he investigated a stalker for Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton, and Cher. [12] [13] He also provided his services to celebrities like Richard Burton, Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Joan Rivers, Victoria Principal, Tina Turner, and John Travolta. [14]
He was twice appointed to the President's Advisory Board at the United States Department of Justice, in 1982 and 1989, [15] [16] and he served two terms on the Governor's Advisory Board at the California Department of Mental Health. [17]
He has also served as an advisor for the anti-bullying resource Bystander Revolution, [18] senior advisor to the Rand Corporation, and senior fellow at UCLA's School of Public Policy. [19]
De Becker has shared his philosophies about prevention of violence in several appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience , The Oprah Winfrey Show , 60 Minutes , Larry King Live , 20/20 , The Jordan Harbinger Show, Sam Harris's podcast, Waking Up, Megyn Kelly's podcast, and Tucker Carlson's podcast. He has written essays and op-ed pieces for the Huffington Post , [20] [21] [22] and he has been profiled in Time and Newsweek magazines, The Wall Street Journal , The New York Times , and other publications. His first book, The Gift of Fear , published in 1997, was a US number 1 bestseller on The New York Times Bestseller List. [23]
Also in 1997, his firm was hired by Bill Cosby to investigate the murder of his son, Ennis, and the threatening letters his family received after the slaying. [24]
In 1999–2000, he assisted the United States Secret Service in the development of its guide for Protective Intelligence and Threat Assessment Investigations. [25]
His 2008 book, Just 2 Seconds, has been described as a guide for protectors of at-risk people focusing on five key lessons for those responsible to protect others. It also includes summaries of incidents from the last several decades for training and analysis. Co-authors of the book are Tom Taylor and Jeff Marquart. [26]
In March 2019, de Becker, who has worked for Jeff Bezos, accused the Saudi Arabian government of hacking Bezos' phone after the National Enquirer published a story about Bezos's extramarital affair. According to the BBC, de Becker, as Bezos' top security staffer, "linked the hack to The Washington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul." [27] The Daily Beast ran an op-ed, in which de Becker explained the matter of the Saudi hack in detail. [28] Journalist Brad Stone explored whether the Saudi hack was linked in any way to a National Enquirer article about Bezos having an affair. [29] United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard conducted an investigation of the Saudi hack. In a public statement, she referred to information that suggested a WhatsApp account belonging to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was used to deploy digital spyware on Bezos' phone, "in an effort to influence, if not silence" The Washington Post's reporting on the kingdom. A United Nations report noted that "the iPhone infiltration occurred from May to June in 2018, when the phones of Jamal Khashoggi's associates, Yahya Assiri and Omar Abdulaziz, were also hacked, allegedly using malware called Pegasus." The UN experts stated: "During the same period, Mr. Bezos was widely targeted in Saudi social media as an alleged adversary of the Kingdom. This was part of a massive, clandestine online campaign against Mr. Bezos and Amazon, apparently targeting him principally as the owner of The Washington Post." [30] [31] [32]
De Becker has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past. [33] In 2019, he supplied New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election campaign with $5,000. [34] In 2022, he contributed $5,000 to Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson's re-election campaign. [35] Also in 2022, he gave Duke Aiona a total of $6,000 for his bid to become Governor of Hawaii. [34]
In 2023, he donated $4.5 million to the Super-PAC that supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 presidential campaign. [36]
In 2024, de Becker donated $10 million to the Super-PAC that supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 presidential campaign, then had $9.65 million returned to him. De Becker and the American Values Political Action Committee both confirm that this was "bridge funding", meaning it could be returned if it was not needed or used. [37]
Gavin de Becker has provided expert witness testimony in many cases, including the successful prosecution of Arthur Richard Jackson, the assailant of actress Theresa Saldana. He later led a national campaign to keep Jackson incarcerated. [38] He also testified in the civil case against the employer of murderer Rodney Garmanian. [39]
De Becker testified in the successful 1994 civil case arising when the tabloid Globe accused an uninvolved man of being the actual assassin of Senator Robert Kennedy (Khawar vs Globe International, Inc). Globe tried to get de Becker's testimony thrown out by a higher court; however, it was ultimately upheld by the California Court of Appeals. [40]
De Becker advised the Los Angeles County District Attorney in the prosecution of Robert Bardo, the murderer of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and was a consultant on the prosecution of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, [41] [42] [43] and the successful civil action against Simpson. [44] His role in the O.J. Simpson cases is described in several books on the case, including those written by Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, Jeffrey Toobin, and Daniel Petrocelli. [45] [46] [47] [48]
De Becker founded and funded Patient Pets, providing pet therapy for violently inclined patients at Atascadero State Hospital in California. [59] [60]
De Becker is the creator and primary funder of the Naqaqa Giving Foundation, which supports disadvantaged people in Fiji and in southern Africa. [61]
In the 1990s, de Becker was romantically linked to singer Alanis Morissette and actress Geena Davis. [62]
De Becker and his wife have been married since 2007 and have two sons. He has also raised eight adopted children, now adults. [63] [64]
De Becker was friends with former Beatle George Harrison, who reportedly died at de Becker's home. [65] De Becker is also friends with Brooke Shields. Interviewed in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields , he told of her confiding in him after she was raped by an acquaintance. [66]
Kevin David Mitnick was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes. Mitnick's pursuit, arrest, trial, and sentence along with the associated journalism, books, and films were all controversial. After his release from prison, he ran his own security firm, Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, and was also involved with other computer security businesses.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American businessman, media proprietor and investor. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. He is the wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of about US$199.1 billion as of March 2, 2024. He was also the wealthiest from 2017 to 2021, according to both the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes.
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion.
Mark Fuhrman is a former detective of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He is primarily known for his part in the investigation of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
The National Enquirer is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years.
Nicole Brown Simpson was the ex-wife of the former professional American football player O. J. Simpson, to whom she was married from 1985 to 1992.
Ronald Lyle Goldman was an American restaurant waiter and a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of the American football player O. J. Simpson. He was murdered, along with Brown, at her home in Los Angeles, California, on June 12, 1994. Simpson was acquitted of their killings in 1995 but found liable for both deaths in a 1997 civil lawsuit.
Christopher Allen Darden is an American lawyer, author, lecturer, and judicial candidate. He worked for 15 years in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, where he gained national attention as a co-prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case. Darden is currently running for Judge of the Superior Court in Los Angeles County.
Miguel José Ferrer was an American actor. His breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in the 1987 film RoboCop. Other film roles include Harbinger in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Quigley in Blank Check, Eduardo Ruiz in Traffic (2000) and Vice President Rodriguez in Iron Man 3 (2013). Ferrer's notable television roles include FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield on Twin Peaks, Dr. Garret Macy on Crossing Jordan (2001–2007) and NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger on NCIS: Los Angeles (2012–2017).
The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The pair were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on the night of June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eleven months, from November 9, 1994, to October 3, 1995.
Christopher Scott Murphy is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Connecticut's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2013. Before being elected to Congress, Murphy was a member of both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly, serving two terms each in the Connecticut House of Representatives (1999–2003) and the Connecticut Senate (2003–2007).
On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California and pronounced dead the following day.
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Palestinian-Jordanian man who was convicted of murdering Senator Robert F. Kennedy Sr., the younger brother of American president John F. Kennedy. On June 5, 1968, Sirhan shot and mortally wounded Robert Kennedy shortly after 12 midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. The circumstances surrounding the attack, which took place five years after John's assassination, have led to numerous conspiracy theories.
Robert Francis Kennedy, also known by his initials RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, he was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and is an icon of modern American liberalism.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also known by his initials MBS or MbS, is Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. He is the seventh son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and grandson of the nation's founder, King Abdulaziz.
Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android. While NSO Group markets Pegasus as a product for fighting crime and terrorism, governments around the world have routinely used the spyware to surveil journalists, lawyers, political dissidents, and human rights activists.
Christopher Asher Wray is an American attorney who is the current director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was nominated by president Donald Trump on June 7, 2017, and has served since August 2, 2017.
Saud bin Abdullah al-Qahtani is a Saudi Arabian consultant and former royal court advisor. Prior to his dismissal in late 2018, he worked as an advisor to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In January 2020, the FTI Consulting company claimed that in May 2018 with "medium to high confidence" the phone of Jeff Bezos had been hacked by a file sent from the WhatsApp account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi Arabian embassy to the United States has denied the allegations. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post newspaper and founder of the company Amazon, engaged FTI Consulting in February 2019 after the National Enquirer in January 2019 reported details of Bezos's affair. FTI Consulting did not link the National Enquirer to the hack. In December 2021, the FBI stated they could not find proof to substantiate claims that Saudi Arabia hacked Jeff Bezos phone, and has considered an investigation into those allegations a low priority.
On Tuesday, October 3, 1995, the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder case was announced and Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. Although the nation observed the same evidence presented at trial, a division along racial lines emerged in observers opinion of the verdict, which the media dubbed the "racial gap". Immediately following the trial, polling showed that most African Americans believed Simpson was innocent and justice had been served, while most White Americans felt he was guilty and the verdict was a racially motivated jury nullification by a mostly African-American jury. Current polling shows the gap has narrowed since the trial, with the majority of black respondents in 2016 stating they believed Simpson was guilty.
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By Gavin de Becker |
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