Word: wolfsons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Publicity shy to the point of reclusiveness, the Wolfsons have been tugged into the glare of attention by their success. But they have each been in the public eye before, separately and for quite different reasons. For much of his career, Louis Wolfson was the ultimate outsider-a notorious corporate takeover artist who also went to jail for selling unregistered stock and who was involved in a curious affair that brought about the resignation of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Abe Fortas. In 1958, Wolfson bought his way into racing, then devoted his considerable energies and talents to becoming...
...Wolfson's next coup was gaining control in 1949 of Capitol Transit, the Washington, B.C., bus system, for $2.2 million and selling it seven years later for $13.5 million-after Congress investigated sharp fare increases, deteriorating service and alleged financial improprieties, and then refused to renew his franchise. He bought control of Merritt-Chapman & Scott, a respected construction firm, and in half a dozen years had raised its net worth from $8 million to $132 million. He also used the firm to absorb companies that made everything from ships (the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk) to movies (The Babe Ruth...
...takeover attempt was his 1954 assault on Montgomery Ward. He spent $500,000 soliciting proxies, and barnstormed the country to line up nearly a third of the mailorder firm's voting stock, but ultimately failed to gain control. So he went after a slightly smaller target: American Motors. Wolfson had bought $4 million of AMC stock before Chairman George Romney talked him out of a takeover and converted him " into a messianic promoter of the Rambler. Wolfson would talk up the little car to barbers, taxi drivers, anyone he encountered, even offering to finance their auto purchases interest-free...
...Wolfson's luck with the law ran out in the 1960s. Tried two times on securities-related charges, he spent nine unpleasant months in a Florida federal prison. It was during his jail term that Wolfson attained perhaps his greatest notoriety: Abe Fortas resigned from the Supreme Court in 1969 after admitting that he had concealed the fact that he was receiving $20,000 a year for giving unspecified help to the Wolfson family foundation...
...convict remains bitter about his prison stint. Some Wall Street lawyers found the sentence extraordinarily harsh for an offense customarily punished by fines. The episode also brought to a standstill a project that was beginning to preoccupy Wolfson more than any business deals: turning his 478-acre...