Everyone is familiar with Burt Reynolds as an actor. He starred in movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance, Boogie Nights, and The Longest Yard. What you may not remember is his bankruptcy. Like so many Hollywood stars, he worked hard and played hard.
Divorce from Loni Anderson
In the early 90’s, after 5 years of marriage Reynold and Anderson filed for divorce. The original divorce agreement mandated that Reynolds pay $2 million and an additional $47,000 per month in “divorce related expenses”. He continued to pay various amounts for 22 years until he finally wrote a check to Anderson for over $154,000 to end the arrangement.
Bad Investments
Reynolds admittedly was not very good with money. He took the advice of his business manager and did not pay attention to his investments. The first bad investment was in a regional restaurant chain called Po’ Folks. He and Buddy Killen invested $20 million each and they had problems from the beginning. It got bad enough to warrant the liquidation of all assets which led Buddy and Burt to make another bad investment with the salvaged funds.
Investment number 2 was in another restaurant chain called Daisey’s Diner. The same issues caused Buddy to sink an additional $12 million into the investment. Both Buddy and Burt eventually pulled out. All-in-all, Reynolds lost around $20 million in these investments.
The Icing on the Cake
Perhaps the biggest mistake Reynolds made was entering into all investments as an individual. His business manager did not advise him to form a corporation with Buddy Killen which made Reynolds personally exposed to his creditors. His personal assets became available to creditors when loans were not paid. Even more questionable, Reynolds told his business manager to just pay everyone he owed instead of working with creditors to settle on lower amounts and payment plans. This left Reynolds with almost nothing.
If Burt Reynolds had Elias Dsouza at his side, many of these unfortunate events could have been avoided. Elias has been working with individuals to protect themselves in business transactions, debt defense, and credit restoration for over 15 years. Contact Dsouza Legal Group for a free consultation.