The Sassoon Family aka 'The Rothschilds of the East '
by Mike King
There once was a wealthy Jew named David Sassoon --- who, like his father, had served as treasurer to the pashas (governors) of Ottoman-ruled Baghdad (in modern day Iraq). Eventually, the people and a new pasha turned against the Jewish money manipulators (surprise surprise). In the early 1830's -- as the result of a corruption scandal -- David and his brother Joseph left "anti-Semitic" Baghdad to seek new scams in new lands.
Joseph Sassoon settled in the city of Aleppo (modern day Syria) where he established a merchant house. Later on, his business interests spread to Alexandria, Thessaloniki, and Athens, which included a shipping company and a money exchange house. His five sons later branched out in different directions.
But it was David -- who led the community's exodus to Bombay (now known as Mumbai, India) -- that established the branch of the Sassoon Family which was to rank among the wealthiest and most