An important Jewish banker named Sassoon was hanged by the Ottoman Turks at the conclusion of the Siege of Kut al Amarah in April 1916.

[5] In Bombay, he built the international business called David S. Sassoon, with the policy of staffing it with people brought from Baghdad.

[1] His business extended to China – where Sassoon House (now the north wing of the Peace Hotel) on the Bund in Shanghai became a noted landmark – and then to England.

His wealth and munificence were proverbial; his philanthropy across Asia included the building of schools, orphanages, hospitals, and museums.

One daughter of the family, Rachel Sassoon Beer, joined her husband in running a number of British newspapers, including The Sunday Times (1893–1904) and The Observer, which she also edited.

Philip served in the First World War as military secretary to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and, during the 1920s and 1930s, as Britain's undersecretary of state for air.

James was mentioned in the Paradise Papers as one of the beneficiaries of a tax-exempt Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007 and defended it as being of non-UK origin.

Jacob's son, Nissim Joseph (1910–1988), was an architect who designed the Assicurazioni Generali di Trieste Building.

Nissim Joseph was also a real estate investor and developer, who foresaw the unparalleled growth of Cairo and the lucrative effect such expansion would have on land values.

It is not surprising, that many of the properties he invested in were located at the nexus of the elegant European quarter of Ismailia or in the choicest parts of Kasr al-Dubara, and later, in Garden City, Zamalek, and Giza.

In 1947 Elias focused his attention on three primary sectors: the newly booming oil exploration industry sweeping the Middle East, shipping and banking.

With a £5,000 loan from his father, Elias invested in Standard Oil adding to his family's existing holdings in the company.

Elias provided material aid and funds to help smuggle Jews out of Europe to what would later become the rebirth of the Jewish Nation, the Land of Israel.

Elias' great-grandfather, Moses, was among the first to secure the interest of the Imperial German banks and companies, already involved in the building of the Berlin–Baghdad railway, which he played an active role in its financing.

Once again, the Jewish communities of the Middle East found themselves facing grave danger, false imprisonment, arbitrary arrests without due process, pogroms, and antisemitic policies forcing the community to abandon their homes, render them stateless, and subject to discriminatory policies, many were forced to leave the country with no more than one suitcase and most had their assets and properties seized by the Revolutionary Council.

However, their son Shlomo (Solomon) Elias Sassoon (1948–1985), who was a medical student at the University of Alexandria, was denied an exit visa.

The government accused Elias of using his family's banking network to help smuggle assets belonging to members of the Jewish community out of the country.

The Fund invested in commercial real estate in the U.S., Canada, and Europe as well as in precious metals, oil & gas, and securities.

The fund also speculated in the currency and energy markets, among its many holdings are: BHP, Le Méridien hotel company with, American Express, General Motors, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Sun Microsystems, Midland Bank, and stockbroking firm Frankel Pollak (which was later sold to Sasfin Bank, a Sassoon family bank based in South Africa).

The firm maintains a strong focus on the U.S. and Israeli markets, it invests in composite material, oil & gas, financial services, mining, and food security in the U.S., Israel, and Africa.