The Downfall of Dan Bilzerian
For months we've been reading that the bad boy of poker, Dan Bilzerian, has finally thrown in the towel, that he's "officially failed", that he grew tired of throwing extravagant parties. And we now may know why.
Federal prosecutors this week announced criminal charges against a cannabis company owned by the frequent poker player and social media personality once admirably referred to as "The King of Instagram".
Also implicated in the scheme, his father Paul Bilzerian and company executive Scott Rohleder.
At the center of the probe is IGNITE. The company refers to itself as "a global lifestyle brand unlike any other, combining premium quality ingredients with an unprecedented level of ambition, innovation and an uncompromised standard of excellence. IGNITE has positioned itself as the gold standard and industry expert in Nicotine, Spirits, and supported with a premium apparel line for an active lifestyle.
"IGNITE is a socially responsible company dedicated to leveraging its marketing and brand power to promote a healthy lifestyle. The IGNITE management team believes that these initiatives positively impact the company, its employees, and its shareholders."
Charges included conspiracy to defraud the United States and wire fraud.
According to prosecutors, the defendants conspired to thwart securities regulators from collecting on judgments against the elder Bilzerian, a former Wall Street investor.
The government alleges Ignite misled investors about revenue and sales. The announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office includes some mentions of Dan Bilzerian and refers to him as “D.B.” The government notes that “Rohleder allegedly assisted in the preparation of D.B.’s tax returns, which included false and fraudulent representations that caused a tax loss of approximately $1,536,949 to the IRS for the tax years 2018 to 2020.”
He's Done
Dan has over 31 million followers on his Instagram account.
In an August episode of Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson, the former GGPoker amabassador discussed how spending almost a decade pursuing nothing other than adventure and pleasure without any financial constraints brought him to a number of life-changing realisations.
He grew tired of throwing extravagant parties, travelling the world with a harem of women and living a rock and roll lifestyle, realising this did not bring him happiness.
On Reddit, they appeared glad he would be gone.
"lol I was just thinking about Bilzerian the other day because I had seen something mentioning the Las Vegas shooting and I remember seeing that video of Dan crouching up to some cops begging them to hand him a rifle so he could shoot back."
"Dude was bleeding trust fund on bad business decisions, spending loads on marketing fake success and living like a king," another wrote.
Up In Smoke
Green Market Report has reported extensively on the SEC case against both Bilzerians and the IGNITE exec.
The issues date back to late 2020, when the SEC alleges that Ignite engaged in a scheme, orchestrated primarily by Bilzerian to report approximately $5 million in non-existent sales of disposable vape pens as part of the Ignite’s fourth quarter 2020 results. The complaint stated that Ignite issued a series of false invoices to one of its customers for the vape pens in November and December 2020, even though the customer had never ordered the product.
The SEC claims in its complaint that the customer repeatedly disputed the invoices after receiving them, including voicing its objections directly to Bilzerian and Ignite’s then-President and COO, John Schaefer. Apparently that didn’t matter and Ignite pushed ahead crowing about the company’s performance and saying the 2020 fourth-quarter revenue “exceeded revenue for the previous three quarters combined.” The SEC claimed that the same customer refused to confirm the accuracy of the false invoices to Ignite’s auditor.
The complaint then accuses Ignite of retroactively shifting the purchases to International Investments, Ltd., another company also controlled by Bilzerian.
And then there is dear 'ol dad.
Bilzerian senior is described by the SEC as a recidivist due to his repetitive criminal behavior. He was first convicted of securities fraud in 1989. In 1993, the SEC obtained civil judgments totaling approximately $62 million against him, including more than $33 million in disgorgement and more than $29 million in prejudgment interest. Since then, the SEC has only managed to collect $547,000. With interest, the original amount has now ballooned to $180 million.
Bilzerian claimed he was indigent and had no assets other than a tax refund. He even asked the SEC to quit garnishing his social security payments because he was bankrupt.
All the while, Green Market Report's Debra Borchardth writes that the younger Bilzerian bragged about buying a Las Vegas mansion for $8.5 million with money loaned to him from Ignite.
He then supposedly leased the house back to Ignite. Rohleder helped Bilzerian junior prepare his taxes and went along with the fake rental scheme for the mansion. He is accused of preparing fraudulent tax returns for Dan Bilzerian.
While the company and elder Bilzerian face criminal charges, Dan does not.
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