David Lewis Paul (May 1, 1939 – January 18, 2022) was an American banker, real estate developer, philanthropist, convicted felon, and founder of CenTrust Bank.

Biography

Paul was born in on May 1, 1939, in MiamiFlorida Trend Magazine: "Florida Icon - David L. Paul, Former chairman, CenTrust Savings Bank, age 71" by Mike Vogel
July 1, 2010 to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, the son of Ruth (née Goldstein) and Isadore Paul.Washington Post: "The Banker's Toppled Tower" by Myra MacPherson
March 19, 1990 His father founded a chain of dry cleaning stores and died when he was ten. His mother took her sons David L and Robert A. Paul first to Scranton, Pennsylvania where they stayed with her mother while Ruth was finding a place in New York for her and her two sons. Paul graduated from the

Cheshire Academy Cheshire Academy is a co-educational college preparatory school located in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1794 as the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, it is the eleventh oldest boarding school in the United States. In 1917, th ...

Cheshire, Connecticut Cheshire ( ), is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Cheshire was 28,733. The town is part of the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region. The center of population of Connecticut i ...

and then the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

. He started his career in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

where his company, Paul Properties, built two controversial apartment buildings. He then took control of a Massachusetts

Real Estate Investment Trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

called the Westport Company. In 1979, Westport purchased the American Furniture Mart in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

for $6.5 million with plans to convert it into apartments.Chicago Tribune: "Developer Charges Bank Sabotaged 666 Project" by David Ibata
March 04, 1985 In 1983, Paul purchased the near bankrupt Dade Savings and Loan Association through the transfer of 92% of his interest in Westport, renaming it CenTrust Bank. By 1988, CenTrust was the largest thrift institution in the southeastern United States with $8.2 billion in assets. He built the $90 million,

I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

-designed CenTrust Tower. In 1989, CenTrust lost $119 million and in 1990, Centrust lost $1.7 billion and was seized by the federal governmentNew York Times: "Ex-Chief of Centrust Bank Is Convicted on 68 Charges"
November 25, 1993 after "excessive and inappropriate expenses and investments." Paul was ousted as chairman.

Conviction

On November 25, 1993, Paul was convicted of fraud in Federal Court for making personal use of CenTrust's funds while the savings and loan was failing. Paul was convicted on 68 counts consisting of 47 counts of bank fraud, 9 of misapplication of Centrust funds, 5 of filing false tax returns, 4 of mail fraud, 2 of obstruction of regulators, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false entries on Centrust books. Facing a maximum of 350 years in prison he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $65 million ($60 million in restitution and a $5 million fine). He was released in 2004.

Philanthropy and political contributions

Paul donated $500,000 to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

and $100,000 to

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is located within the Archdiocese of Miami. Th ...

. Paul served as the head of the governing body of

Jackson Memorial Hospital Jackson Memorial Hospital, also referred to as Jackson or abbreviated MJMH, is a non-profit, tertiary care hospital, and the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's School of Medicine. As of 2021, it is the largest hospital in t ...

. Through his CenTrust

Political Action Committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

, Paul donated to both

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's and

Richard Gephardt Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House majority lead ...

's presidential campaigns as well as the

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. Its purpose is to elect Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current Chair is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of Ne ...

Personal life

Paul was married three times. In 1965, he married Lynn Pamela Goelet of the influential

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

Goelet family The Goelet family is an influential family from New York (state), New York, of Huguenot origins, that owned significant real estate in New York City. History The Goelets are descended from a family of Huguenots from La Rochelle in France, who es ...

in a

ceremony at the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, ...

in Manhattan; they had two sons, Michael and David, before they divorced. He was introduced to his second wife, Joy Fererh Germont Simons (sister of composer

Bruce Wolosoff Bruce Wolosoff (born March 27, 1955) is an American classical composer, pianist, and educator.
retrieved May 23, 2017 He lives ...

) by fellow real estate developer and sometimes partner Sol Atlas; they divorced 2 months later.New York Times: "Judge and Heiress: The Rise and Fall of a Private Affair" by Catherine S. Manegold
November 15, 1992 Paul's third marriage was to Sandy Paul; they had one daughter, Deanna, before divorcing and she remarried real estate developer Stephen Muss.''Fool's Paradise: Players, Poseurs, and the Culture of Excess in South Beach'' By Steven Gaines
pages 100 -110 Paul died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

related causes on the morning of January 18, 2022, at Mt. Sinai hospital in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, David L. 1939 births 2022 deaths American businesspeople in real estate American bank presidents American philanthropists American fraudsters 21st-century American Jews Businesspeople from Miami Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)