Convicted Corporate Raider Charged With Conspiracy and Fraud

A corporate takeover specialist has been indicted for his years-long avoidance of a judgment—now exceeding $180 million—to the Securities and Exchange Commission while running a cannabis and lifestyle brand company, the Justice Department announced Friday.

According to the DOJ, the SEC in 1989 brought a civil action against Paul Bilzerian based on the same securities violations that led to his criminal conviction in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. In 1993, the SEC obtained civil judgments totaling approximately $62,3 million against Bilzerian. Since then, ...