Steven Hoffenberg
Steven Jude Hoffenberg (January 12, 1945 – August 2022)[2] was an American businessman and fraudster. He was the founder, CEO, president, and chairman of Towers Financial Corporation, a debt collection agency, which was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme.[3] In 1993, he rescued the New York Post from bankruptcy, and briefly owned the paper. Towers Financial collapsed in 1993, and in 1995 Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of $475 million. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison (serving 18 years), plus a $1 million fine and $463 million in restitution. The U.S. SEC considered his financial crimes to be "one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history".[4]
Steven Hoffenberg
January 12, 1945
August 2022 (aged 77)
August 23, 2022
Owner of the New York Post (1993), Ponzi scheme at Towers Financial Corporation, Jeffrey Epstein associate
Five counts of securities fraud, tax evasion, and obstruction of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry[1]
20 years imprisonment and fine; served 18 years
- Bailey Edgren (m. 1963)
Second wife
1
Personal life and death[edit]
On July 10, 2014, he married Post All Star News president, Maria Santiago, after a one month romance. The ceremony was held in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan.[27] He was married twice before, and had a daughter.[5]
Hoffenberg was found dead at his apartment in Derby, Connecticut, on August 23, 2022, at the age of 77.[2] Epstein accuser Maria Farmer said she called police to check in on Hoffenberg after she failed to reach him over the phone during the preceding week.[28] His body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and a Derby police officer estimated that he had been dead for roughly a week by the time his remains were found.[2][5] An initial autopsy found no evidence of trauma on his body and police said they believe he died of natural causes. He had tested positive for COVID-19 not long before his death.[28]