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SEC LITIGATION RELEASE
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EXTRACTED KEY WORDS
SUMMARY JUDGMENT BANKRUPTCY COURT SECURITIES FRAUD BILZERIAN DISTRICT COURT EXCHANGE COMMISSION LITIGATION REMAND MOTION RELIANCE DISGORGEMENT CONVICTION UPHELD PROFITS SCHEMES DISCHARGE ILLEGAL PROFITS PREJUDGMENT CIVIL LIABILITY AROSE MISLEADING FILINGS PURPORTED TAKEOVER PUBLIC COMPANIES ENTICING BIDDERS WHITE KNIGHTS TARGET COMPANIES PURCHASE SHARES |
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C.
Litigation Release No. 15146 / November 4, 1996
SEC v. Bilzerian (In re Bilzerian),
(No. 96-513-CIV-T-23B) (M.D. Fla.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that
on October 22, 1996, The Honorable Steven D. Merryday, United
States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida,
reversed and remanded a bankruptcy court order of summary
judgment against the Commission with instructions that the
bankruptcy court enter summary judgment in favor of the
Commission. The Commission had moved for summary judgment that
its securities fraud judgment against debtor Paul A. Bilzerian
was nondischargeable as a debt for money obtained by fraud,
relying on the collateral estoppel effect of its securities fraud
judgment. The bankruptcy court had denied the motion and sua
sponte had entered summary judgment against the Commission on the
ground that the Commission's failure to prove reliance (which is
not an element of a Commission action) doomed its claim that the
judgment was nondischargeable. The Commission appealed the
summary judgment to the district court, arguing that, having
proved the elements of material misrepresentation and causation
in its action, it had met any applicable reliance standard. The
district court agreed, and, finding all elements of issue
preclusion to be "amply present in this record," ordered the
bankruptcy court to enter summary judgment in favor of the
Commission.
This is the second successful appeal by the Commission in
Bilzerian's bankruptcy case. In May 1995, the district court
reversed the bankruptcy court's ruling that the Commission lacked
standing to object to the discharge in bankruptcy of its
disgorgement judgment. On remand, the Commission filed the
summary judgment motion that resulted in the instant appeal.
Bilzerian was criminally convicted of securities fraud in
1989, and his conviction was upheld on appeal in 1991. He was
enjoined in 1991 and in 1993 was ordered to disgorge $33 million
in illegal profits, and $29 million in prejudgment interest.
Those orders were upheld on appeal in 1994. Bilzerian's criminal
and civil liability arose from two schemes in which he made false
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