Posted by Susan O’Driscoll
A man who made a $3.25 billion bid for American Airlines in March is actually a convicted felon with a lengthy history of financial fraud!
The man claimed to be the managing partner of a private equity firm and wanted to take over Eastman Kodak and American Airlines. In fact 45-year-old Allen E. Weintraub has no assets or access to the huge sums of money he claimed to.
Associated Press says Weintraub "is on probation from past fraud convictions and is barred from serving as a corporate officer, according to (the US Security and Exchange Commission) lawsuit. … The SEC says Weintraub declared bankruptcy in 2007 and still owes a judgment of over $1 million from a previous, unrelated SEC lawsuit."
The bizarre story is perhaps best summed up by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which says:
If you offer to buy an airline for $3.25 billion but don't really have the money to do the deal, the government is going to notice.
Lawyers for the SEC declined to speculate on a possible motive for Weintraub's actions, while Forbes.com adds: "Court records did not indicate whether he had a lawyer in the SEC case."
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