Dan Bilzerian | |
|---|---|
 Bilzerian in 2019 | |
| Born | Daniel Brandon Bilzerian (1980-12-07)December 7, 1980 (age 44) Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Citizenship | United States (1980–present) Armenia (2018–present) |
| Alma mater | University of Florida (dropped out) |
| Occupations |
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| Father | Paul Bilzerian |
Daniel Brandon Bilzerian (born December 7, 1980) is an Americaninfluencer. He gained notability from about 2013 for his extravagant lifestyle and photos with scantily dressed female models on social media.[1] He is the eldest son of businessmanPaul Bilzerian.
Daniel Brandon Bilzerian[2] was born on December 7, 1980,[3] inTampa, Florida, the son of corporate takeover specialistPaul Bilzerian and Terri Steffen. He is the brother of fellow poker player Adam Bilzerian, and is of half Armenian descent through his father,[4] who was acorporate raider onWall Street and provided both of his sons withtrust funds.[5] Bilzerian said he studied for four years at theUniversity of Florida, majoring in Business and Criminology,[6][unreliable source?] but dropped out of college to pursue a professional poker career.[7]
 | This sectionis missing information about his influencer career. Please expand the sectionby making an edit requestto include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(November 2025) |
Bilzerian played in the 2008World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 180th place.[8] In 2010, he was voted one of the funniest poker players onTwitter byBluff magazine.[9] In November 2011, Bilzerian was one of those sued by the estate of Bradley Ruderman over winnings from poker games, which were alleged to have been paid with funds from an illegalPonzi scheme.[10]
In November 2013, Bilzerian posted an unconfirmed claim that he won $10.8 million from a single night of playing poker,[11] and in 2014 said he won $50 million throughout the year, adding that he "doesn't play against professionals anymore and the most he's ever lost in a single session is $3.6 million."[12] Bilzerian has discussed his poker career onJoe Rogan's podcast onYouTube.
Bilzerian has previously claimed to run the company Ignite International Brands Ltd., which sellselectronic cigarettes,CBD oils, water bottles andvodka, among other products.[13] U.S. prosecutors allege that Bilzerian's father, Paul Bilzerian, retained de facto control of Ignite, and improperly funneled money to the company while owing more than $180 million to theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[14] Dan Bilzerian later claimed he was never directly involved with running the company.[15]
Ignite was a public company, headquartered inToronto, Canada, that began trading in January 2019 under the BILZF ticker and went private in June of 2022[16][13] The company reportedly lost over $50 million in 2019, mostly on marketing and office rental expenses.[13]
Bilzerian has appeared in the filmsLone Survivor (2013),The Equalizer,Cat Run 2 (both 2014), andExtraction (2015), and authored the autobiographyThe Setup (2021), which recounts his controversial life and lifestyle.[17]
Bilzerian's appearance inLone Survivor was provided to him in exchange for a $1 million investment in the film by Bilzerian.[18]
Due to his drug abuse, Bilzerian reportedly suffered two heart attacks before the age of 32.[19]
In 2014, Bilzerian split his time between homes inHollywood Hills andLos Angeles (California)[20] andLas Vegas (Nevada).[21]He moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood ofBel Air in 2018.[22]
On August 28, 2018, Bilzerian flew toArmenia with his brother Adam and father Paul to take their oaths to obtain Armenian citizenship and join theArmed Forces of Armenia.[23][24]
On that same trip he visited theRepublic of Artsakh where he visited a shooting range, and fired weapons there.[25] The government ofAzerbaijan sent a note of protest to the United States over these actions due to thecontested status of Artsakh, and summoned U.S. Chargé d'Affaires William Gill to take an official note of protest addressed to theState Department. A court inBaku issued an arrest warrant for Bilzerian and put him on the international wanted list.[25] Two years later, Bilzerian and other members of his family donated $250,000 to theArmenia Fund to support Armenia and Artsakh during theSecond Nagorno-Karabakh War, declaring that he was "very disappointed that Azerbaijan decided to attack theArmenian people."[26]
One thing I do like is that he is kind of raw and unfiltered ... that honestly scares me less than these people that are so politically correct and they're just gonna say whatever they're supposed to say ... I would rather somebody, even if I don't agree with his opinion, give it to me straight.
In June 2015, Bilzerian announced his bid to run in the2016 United States presidential election.[28][29] By December 2015, however, he had begun supportingDonald Trump, stating that he "is raw and unfiltered," eschewingpolitical correctness and praising hispro-gun stance.[30]
In 2024, Bilzerian condemnedIsrael and expressed support forHamas amidst theGaza war, referring to it as a "resistance organization" and calling its former leaderYahya Sinwar "a hero."[31]
Bilzerian has generated controversy for a series of statements againstJews andJudaism as early as 2010. He has gone on record to say that the Jewish people perpetrated theHolodomor inSoviet Ukraine, assassinatedJohn F. Kennedy in 1963 andMuammar Gaddafi in 2011, created the "transgender nonsense," and orchestrated theSeptember 11 attacks and theIraq War, among other assertions andantisemitic conspiracy theories. He also stated thatNazi Germany "flourished" when "Hitler removed Jews from the banking system" and thatSpain's golden age began becauseit expelled the Jews at the end of theReconquista in 1492.[32]
In a 2024 interview withPiers Morgan, Bilzerian argued that Judaism "promotessupremacy and rape, and steals from other people as long as they'renot Jewish"[32][33] and that "most of the problems today are caused byJewish supremacy." He invoked the term"antisemitism" as a misnomer, stating that thePalestinian people "are the realsemites." He also stated that allIsraeli Jews are "Eastern EuropeanAshkenazi Jews" and "don't have actualHebrew DNA."[31] Bilzerian further argued that Jews "control the media"[32] and promotedHolocaust denialism, saying that "I would bet my entire net worth that it was less thansix million."[31][32] Bilzerian followed up on this claim aboutthe Holocaust by stating that Jews "killed more Christians than six million" and that "they've basically inventedgenocide."[31]
In 2014, Bilzerian sued the producers of the filmLone Survivor. His lawsuit stated that he invested $1 million in the film in exchange for at least eight minutes of screen time and 80 words of dialogue, but his role was later reduced to less than one minute and just one line. His lawsuit demanded $1.2 million—the original investment plus 20 percent.[34] The lawsuit was later dropped, and Bilzerian said that he had generated $1.5 million in revenue as a result of his investment due to the film's commercial success.[35]
In August 2014, Bilzerian was banned from aMiaminightclub for kicking model Vanessa Castano in the face during a brawl. Bilzerian stated that Castano and another woman attacked Bilzerian's female companion. Castano stated, "There were two girls standing next to me at the table that were fighting. People started getting shoved and I tried to separate them. Then Dan pushed me off the banquette and once I fell he kicked me in the face."[36] Castano later filed a lawsuit against Bilzerian for her injuries.[37] It was also reported that Castano had asked Bilzerian for US$1 million to settle the suit citing the possibility of greaterpunitive damages based on his income if the suit went to trial.[38]
In 2014, Bilzerian was involved in a legal matter withpornographic actress Janice Griffith. Griffith was featured in a photoshoot with Bilzerian forHustler magazine in April 2014, which involved Bilzerian throwing her off the roof of a house and into a pool. Griffith fell short of the pool, hitting the edge, and broke her foot. The 18-year-old asked Bilzerian for $85,000 for her injuries, which was rejected. In December 2014 she filed a lawsuit against bothHustler and Bilzerian. Bilzerian's attorney responded that Griffith was under contract for the event byHustler, thatHustler hired Bilzerian for the event, and that Bilzerian was not at fault.[39] In January 2015,Hustler's attorney argued that the toss was an "act of God" and stated that it was not the publisher's fault that Griffith suffered injuries as a result.[40]
On December 9, 2014, Bilzerian was arrested atLos Angeles International Airport on unrelated bomb-making charges.[41] According to theLos Angeles Police Department, Bilzerian was arrested on a fugitive warrant from Nevada and was booked at the LAPD's Pacific Division around 10 pm: "Bilzerian has been charged with violating a law making it a crime to possess an explosive or incendiary device with the intent to manufacture it."[42][43] He was released from LAPD custody on the day of his arrest after charges were dropped but was scheduled to be arraigned in January 2015 inClark County, Nevada.[44] In February 2015, Bilzerian pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of "negligently failing to extinguish a fire in the open" and was fined $17,231.50.[45][46]
In July 2020, former Ignite president Curtis Heffernan sued Bilzerian for wrongful termination. Heffernan said that he was fired for criticizing Bilzerian's misappropriation of company funds for his lavish lifestyle.[47][48]
In October 2016, American rapperT-Pain released the song "Dan Bilzerian".[49]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Olympus Has Fallen[50] | Uncredited | |
| 2013 | Lone Survivor[34] | SCPODaniel R. Healy | Uncredited |
| 2014 | The Other Woman[51] | Handsome Man at Bar | Uncredited |
| 2014 | The Equalizer | Teddy's Guy | |
| 2014 | Cat Run 2 | Cordray | |
| 2015 | Extraction | Higgins | |
| 2016 | War Dogs | Himself | Uncredited cameo |
He ordered his friend, the professional poker player/bon vivant Dan Bilzerian....
I do venture capitalism work....
| International | |
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| Other | |
