39 Facts About Sam Wyly

Samuel Evans Wyly was born on October 4,1934 and is an American businessman.

Sam Wyly first appeared on Forbess list of richest Americans in 2000 with a net worth of $750 million, and he remained on that list throughout 2010 with a net worth of $1 billion.

In 2010 following a series of investigations, Sam Wyly was charged with federal tax fraud by the SEC and IRS.

Sam Wyly was born in 1934, to parents Flora and Charles Wyly Sr.

Sam Wyly's ancestors included Presbyterian and Episcopalian ministers, college founders, and teachers.

Sam Wyly's paternal grandfather was a lawyer who managed plantation assets and helped poor Black convicts get paroled from Angola Prison.

Sam Wyly began working at an early age, helping his parents publish a weekly newspaper titled The Delhi Dispatch in Richland Parish.

Sam Wyly sold advertising, wrote stories, sent telegrams for oil and gas workers, folded and addressed the finished papers, delivered daily newspapers from the bus stop on Highway 80, and cleaned the printing presses.

Sam Wyly spent his summers working in the Delhi Oil field.

Sam Wyly played nose guard on his high school football team.

Sam Wyly attended Louisiana Tech University where he studied journalism and accounting.

Three and a half years later, Sam Wyly left IBM for Honeywell, establishing their computer business in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma.

In 1963 Sam Wyly founded University Computing Company, to serve engineers, scientists, and researchers.

Sam Wyly capitalized the company with $1,000 and commitments from customers including Sun Oil Company, Texas Instruments and SMU, as well as $650,000 borrowed from the First National Bank in Dallas.

Sam Wyly went public in September 1965, the month his twin daughters, Laurie and Lisa, were born.

Cheryl and Sam Wyly purchased Explore Booksellers and Bistro in January 2007.

Sam Wyly's illustrated biography, Beyond Tallulah, How Sam Wyly Became America's Boldest Big-Time Entrepreneur, by Dennis Hamilton was published in 2011.

Sam Wyly has been an active donor to the Republican Party since Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign.

In 1968, Sam Wyly was a delegate to the Republican Convention at the request of Chuck Percy, an Illinois Senator and former CEO who he met at a "Young Presidents'" event.

Sam Wyly served as chairman of a presidential advisory commission under Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Sam Wyly donated heavily to Bush's campaign and was an early supporter in his presidential aspirations.

In 2008, Sam Wyly supported GOP nominee Senator John McCain's campaign.

Sam Wyly was no exception and he funded GOP races especially in his home state of Texas.

Sam Wyly has supported the Salvation Army, Deaf Action Center, Human Rights Organizations, animal shelters in Dallas and Hillsboro, Texas, and Aspen, health care for people surviving with Lou Gehrig's disease, and the Aspen Writers' Foundation.

Sam Wyly supported the Dallas Theater Center on Turtle Creek for decades, and was the namesake of the Wyly Theatre in downtown Dallas.

In 1979, Sam Wyly settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he made undisclosed payments to associates to buy up company bonds as part of a plan to stave off bankruptcy for University Computing after the $100 million Datran loss.

The Sam Wyly brothers were not indicted by either grand jury.

In 2006, the Texas Senate investigators allege that the Sam Wyly brothers used the offshore trusts to buy $30 million worth of artwork, jewelry, furniture and other items for their personal use; however, the investigation did not result in criminal prosecution.

The investigation by the SEC attracted the attention of the Internal Revenue Service as it was believed Sam Wyly failed to pay federal taxes on his assets.

In court, Sam Wyly defended himself by claiming that his accountants were responsible for the assets in the Isle of Man and that he had no knowledge or involvement in where his money was going.

Sam Wyly was found guilty and was convicted in June 2016.

Sam Wyly was ordered to pay $1.1 billion, which consisted of "$135.5 million of taxes, $402.1 million of interest, and $570.1 million of penalties," to the IRS.

Sam Wyly sold his home in Highland Park, Texas, in 2017.

Sam Wyly finally settled with the IRS and paid out the necessary penalties in October 2019.

Sam Wyly pressed the agency to set aside some of the confiscated assets to be placed in a trust for his children.

In 2019 the IRS and Sam Wyly reached an agreement and established a trust.

From 1960 to 1976, Sam Wyly was married to Rosemary Acton.

Sam Wyly then divorced Victoria and went on to marry a third woman Cheryl Sam Wyly from 1994 to 2016.

Sam Wyly has six adult children; Evan, twins Laurie and Lisa, Kelly, Andrew, and Christiana.