25 Facts About Paul Bilzerian

Paul Bilzerian was born in Miami, Florida but grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts in an Armenian American family.

Paul Bilzerian served as First lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps and was deployed during the Vietnam War, earning the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross, Bronze Star Medal, and Army Commendation Medal, he went to college and earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science and graduated With Distinction from Stanford University in 1975.

Paul Bilzerian was unsure about his choice to attend, having passed on offers of admissions to several law schools to enroll at HBS.

In June 2014, Bloomberg News reported that Paul Bilzerian had become one of the licensed service providers who processed applications for the same Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship-by-investment program which his son had used.

The report added that Paul Bilzerian had gone on to process a citizenship-by-investment application for Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, and that the two men had co-launched a website through which customers could use Bitcoins to pay for the fees and the real estate purchase in the citizenship-by-investment program.

One of Paul Bilzerian's first business deals was an investment in the 1970s in a Tampa Bay-area radio station, WPLP, which he made with two Army colleagues from the Vietnam War who had experience in the broadcasting industry.

However, in a dispute over control, Paul Bilzerian left in the late 1970s to join his father-in-law in the real estate business.

Paul Bilzerian became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Singer Corporation in February 1988 owning a controlling stake, following his leveraged buyout of the company.

In 1987, Paul Bilzerian began a takeover of defense electronics manufacturer Singer Corporation.

In January 1989, Paul Bilzerian pleaded not guilty to the charges amid growing public controversy and demanded a speedy trial to clear his name.

Daniel Fischel, Dean of the University of Chicago Law School, argued Paul Bilzerian was an innocent victim of an overzealous prosecutor, Rudy Guliani, and never should have been indicted as he was viewed as a hero to the shareholders of Cluett Peabody and Hammermill Paper Company.

Paul Bilzerian's appeal came before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which in January 1991 ruled against him in a split decision, finding no merit in his argument that his trial had been unfair.

Paul Bilzerian started to serve his sentence in December 1991 at the now-closed Federal Prison Camp, Eglin at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Paul Bilzerian was released from prison in December 1992 to serve out his sentence under house arrest.

Paul Bilzerian has maintained that the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should have reversed and vacated his conviction based on two subsequent unanimous United States Supreme Court decisions that mandated his conviction be reversed.

Paul Bilzerian claimed that this was double jeopardy as he had already been punished once for exactly the same conduct.

In January 1994, Paul Bilzerian filed an appeal against the civil judgment in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Paul Bilzerian emerged from that bankruptcy having disgorged all his non-exempt assets in settlement of debts that mostly consisted of claims by the government.

The SEC alleged that Paul Bilzerian was using bankruptcy as a tactic to block creditors from finding out the true value of his assets, and Paul Bilzerian argued that was a total fabrication as the bankruptcy laws require full disclosure and a trustee to take possession of his assets.

Paul Bilzerian argued the real reason the SEC opposed his bankruptcy was so that the SEC Receiver could control all his assets through an extremely cooperative federal judge in Washington who allowed the SEC to go after Paul Bilzerian's wife and children in conflict with an earlier bankruptcy court judgment.

On June 11,2001, while Paul Bilzerian was in prison, FBI agents raided his family's residence on the strength of a sealed warrant and seized computers, files, and a Beretta firearm.

The raid appeared to be related to SEC contentions that Paul Bilzerian had concealed his ownership of assets during bankruptcy proceedings by transferring them to trusts and shell corporations, which Paul Bilzerian claimed was a total fabrication.

Paul Bilzerian unsuccessfully sued the FBI agent for filing a sworn affidavit that contained mostly false statements, but a federal judge dismissed the case.

Paul Bilzerian was released from prison in January 2002 pursuant to an agreement under which his wife, Terri Steffen would sell the residence and split the proceeds with the SEC, and transfer most of her wealth to the SEC.

Paul Bilzerian was critical of the deal, describing it as the SEC using him "as a hostage to extort money" from his wife.