Dan Bilzerian features on this week’s episode of The Filthy Rich Guide, but who is he and how did he get so rich?
Bilzerian is an Instagram sensation and is often pictured living it up as he enjoy a lavish lifestyle. From speedboats and poker to a bevy of scantily clad women, Bilzerian is a man who enjoys life to the max.
Dan Brandon Bilzerian was born December 7, 1980 in Tampa, Florida and he cites Armenian anscestry through his father Paul Bilzerian.
His father was a very successful corporate raider and setup large trust funds for his two sons, Dan and Adam.
Bilzerian grew up with all the trappings wealth can give you but has said that although his upbringing was privalaged that he felt a bit neglected and one of his strong memories is his father driving him to school only to tell him he was going to jail.
His father’s business activities saw the multi-millionaire convicted of securities and tax laws violations and he served prison time in addition to being told to give up the profits from the deals. For more than 20 years he has maintained his innocence and continues to do so.
Bilzerian might have inherited quite a lot of cash through his trust fund but he says that most of his money was made through his poker skills.
When he turned 20 Bilzerian enrolled for the Navy SEAL program and although he completed hundreds of days of the training, in the end he did not serve in the SEALS but was in the Navy for four years.
However, he retains a keen interest in all things military and has a huge collection of firearms.
Bilzerian’s brother Adam was also interested in serving for his country, as a Green Beret. However, it seems he was angered by his father’s treatments by the U.S. government and moved to Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2007, renouncing his U.S. citizenship.
Both the Blizerian brother enjoy playing poker, something that led to sportswriter Norman Chad to dub them the “Flying Bilzerian Brothers.”
Bilzerian also has a number of film roles including Lone Survivor, The Equalizer and Extraction. He also plays himself in War Dogs and the TV series he exec produces, Blitz’s Real Hollywood Stories. He also dabbles in music and is good friends with several rap artists.
All this fame and fortune has not come without a price and Bilzerian has been subject to several court actions including one by adult actress Janice Griffith. They were shooting a piece for Hustler and Bilzerian had to throw Griffith off the roof into the pool, but she hit her foot on the side on the way down.
In 2014 he was charged with “violating a law making it a crime to possess an explosive or incendiary device with the intent to manufacture it.” He later pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was fined $17,231.50.
Currently Blizerian has over 22 million followers on Instagram, 12 million on Facebook and 1.45 million on Twitter. He posts crazy pictures of his wild life as he parties with semi-naked women, walks his goats, looks after his cat, shoots guns, works out, blows s**t up, plays poker and generally leads a life many men can only dream of.
He’s also involved in various charity events that he helps sets up and even has an online TV channel.