Occasional nosebleed-stakes poker player and self-proclaimed 'King of Instagram' Dan Bilzerian has filed suit against five individuals and corporate entities associated with Ignite International, the cannabis company that featured Bilzerian as the CEO, frontman, and alleged owner. Among those sued is Bilzerian's father, Paul Bilzerian, the convicted corporate-takeover specialist whose illicitly derived wealth has been pursued by US authorities for more than three decades.
Dan Bilzerian's action, filed in a US District Court in Nevada earlier this month, accuses his father, his father's long-time attorney, Scott Rohleder, and Rupy Dhadwar, the executive now serving as the CEO of Excite International Brands, the company Dan Bilzerian claims to have founded in 2017. Excite International Brands and a wholly-owned entity, Excite International, are the other defendants named in the lawsuit.
The junior Bilzerian's action asserts that he was illegally removed as Excite's CEO and Chairman of the Board in December 2023 at the behest of his father, who the SEC has alleged to be the true owner of the Excite cannabis companies. Bilzerian also claims that he is the true majority shareholder of Ignite International Brands and that despite being shoved out of the company's operations, Rohleder and Dhadwar have continued to use widely Dan Bilzerian's name in likeness in promoting Excite's product lines.
Dan Bilzerian has even claimed that his father and the other defendants have attempted to seize his high-profile Instagram account, which currently boasts 31.4 million followers, through a legal effort in Canada. Dan further asserts that the elder Bilzerian and his associates have claimed that Dan is barred from creating a competing cannabis-related business – which he's already done – via a non-compete clause that Dan claims does not exist. Instead, according to the action, the false non-compete claim is designed to scare off other companies that might wish to work with Dan's rival firm.
Bilzerian seeks a jury trial and multiple forms of damages from his father and the other defendants. The claimed causes for relief include violations of publicity rights, unjust enrichment, economic interference, unfair competition, and deceptive trade practices.
Ownership dispute increases spotlight into Bilzerian family's operations
The ongoing September actions filed by the SEC against Paul Bilzerian, Rohleder, and others continue to be the fulcrum for the family rift. Those actions also raise the possibility that Dan Bilzerian was the source of much of the information now being used by the SEC. That agency named Rohleder as a defendant for, among other alleged misdeeds, filing false tax returns on behalf of Dan Bilzerian, while Bilzerian himself wasn't charged.
The misdeeds involving the younger Bilzerian included misrepresenting Bilzerian's Las Vegas mansion as a rental property and intentionally miscategorizing some of Bilzerian's capital gains to falsely claim a lower tax rate. Rohleder also listed a home residence for Dan Bilzerian that corresponds to a hangar at Harry Reid International Airport.
Dan Bilzerian has also listed that Las Vegas mansion, which sits a couple of miles west of the lower end of the famed Strip, for $25 million.
Bilzerian describes father as 'convict'
This latest action by Dan Bilzerian against his father Paul lists, as part of its description, that the senior Bilzerian was convicted in 1989 for securities fraud and other acts. Paul Bilzerian always disputed his guilt and launched multiple appeals, though he was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison and fined $62 million, including interest. However, the SEC has repeatedly claimed that Paul Bilzerian also hid tens of millions of dollars in assets, part of which were widely rumored to have funded the lavish lifestyles of Dan and Paul's other son, Adam, who has also played poker professionally.
Paul Bilzerian later gave up his American citizenship and repatriated to the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, though his involvement in an American cannabis startup shows his ongoing financial interest in US-based businesses.
