Wall Street Legend Perelman’s Family Trust Tied to Mystery Loans (1)

After achieving magazine-cover status as the richest U.S. businessman in 1989, Ronald Perelman began making a name for himself as one of the country’s top philanthropists too.

But a few years ago, the Perelman family’s largest private foundation — housing hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, mainly from his father — began making a series of stark disclosures in arcane filings: It was engaged in forbidden credit transactions with a “disqualified person.” That is, someone with ties to the foundation.

Ronald Perelman

Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg

What’s more, regulatory filings for that foundation and others run by the Perelman family show they have become entangled in ...