Emanuel Khalili

Professor Wagner
Corporate Finance
September 30, 2014
A 1980s Corporate Raider Holds Off the SEC
The Wall Street Journal article A 1980s Corporate Raider Holds Off the SEC written by
Michael Rothfeld and Brad Reagan writes about a Wall Street felon named Paul Bilzerian. He
was a high school dropout and served in the Vietnam. Paul Bilzerian graduated from Stanford
University and Harvard Business School. In the 1980s he started taking over many companies,
such as Hammermill Paper Co., Cluett Peabody & Co. and Pay N Pak Stores Inc. In 1988 he
became the chairman of Singer Co., a manufacturing company located in Connecticut.
Mr. Bilzerian got convicted of fraud in 1989 for making false statements to the SEC. He
was fined $1.5 million and served a 13 month sentence in prison. After he served his sentence
Paul Blizerian was sued to give up illegal profits. At the trial, the SEC expressed how Paul
Blizerian was sheltering his money, but he denied this fact.
In 1991 the SEC found him liable for securities fraud. Paul Blizerian and his wife
transferred property in Tampa. Three months later, he filed bankruptcy, which he said he was
suffering large losses on Singer. The SEC found orders for Mr. Bilzerian to pay $62 million. It
included illegal business transactions of up to $12 million of profits, plus his partners profits and
interest.
A federal judge in Washington in 2000 found Paul Bilzerian for not paying his payment
toward his judgment. The SEC demanded the judge to go after his assets. Later on they ordered
him to jail until he stopped avoiding the payments of his sentence. Ms. Steffen, made a deal for

her husband in 2002. She accepted to be partner in the mansion and give the other half to the
SEC and give over some securities and cash.
Paul Bilzerian now lives in St. Kitts, in a condo with his wife, which is owned by their
son Adam. In the recent years he is involved in business dealings with his son. He removed from
his life being a corporate raider. Bilzerian said that if he can do it over again, he would surrender
to the government, since he saw how all this ruined his family.