The scandalous Seagrams: Inside the Bronfman family’s dark past [Video]

14:33 EST 28 Nov 2024, updated 15:01 EST 28 Nov 2024

The Bronfman family are known as the heirs of the infamous Canadian beverage company Seagram’s, but they also have a scandalous past.

Samuel Bronfman, the patriarch of one of the most influential and wealthiest Jewish families in Canada, first delved into the alcohol business in 1903 after his family purchased a hotel, leading him to start up Distillers Corporation in Montreal in 1924.

He started off with selling cheap whiskey in major U.S. cities, including New York, Boston and Chicago, during the Prohibition – when the production and distribution of alcohol was illegal.

The Jewish refugee then acquired the Seagram Company in 1928 from Joseph E. Seagram & Sons of Waterloo, Ontario – leading his family to billionaire status. 

Samuel shared four children with his wife Saidye Rosner: Aileen Mindel ‘Minda’ Bronfman, Phyllis Bronfman, Edgar Miles Bronfman Sr., and Charles Rosner Bronfman. 

One of Edgar Sr.’s sons,Samuel …