The Queen of Versailles

[Fishindude77]

Ran across this interesting documentary on Netflix.
It covers the rise and fall of real estate tycoon David Siegel of Westgate Properties (huge timeshare outfit) and his family. Went from mega rich with private jets, yachts, building a 90,000 SF mansion, etc. to near bust when the housing bubble hit in 2008. Their entire business and lifestyle was built on cheap borrowed money.

I wonder how this guy is doing today?

[james.hendrickson]

Forbes puts Dave Siegal's net worth at 940 million.

Here is the write up from their 2016 profile of the guy.

David Siegel on Forbes Lists

Age: 82
Source Of Wealth: Timeshares, Self Made
Residence: Windermere, FL
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
Children: 13
Education: Drop Out, University of Miami

Orlando's timeshare king, David Siegel, is back on his way to becoming a billionaire -- a feat that seemed nearly impossible during the 2008 financial crisis, when bankers were coming after his over-leveraged Westgate timeshare properties. For a brief time, he also had to stop building the gilded, 90,000 square foot mansion (known as Orlando's Versailles) for his family. Siegel put it on the market for a while, but it didn't sell. Now he is building again, and the project is on schedule to finish in 2017. As for the company, Westgate says it is worth more than the $900 million Forbes currently estimates. Analysts say Siegel's antics would make it hard for investors to trust the company if were publicly traded. Siegel, his former-beauty queen wife and their large family had their past financial troubles chronicled in the documentary, "The Queen of Versailles," which came out in 2012.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/profile/david-siegel/

[Singuy]

The guy recovered and they restarted building the mansion. Can't wait for it to be built! 2 story Imax theater, 7 swimming pools, hair salon, 3500 squareft closet. I need to see this thing!

I think I ran into Jackie at the hospital last year as a visitor.

[StormRichards]

I saw the documentary. Also curious to see if the mansion gets finished.

[FLA]

I really enjoyed this documentary, glad to hear they are back on their feet, I guess, they were kind of jerks