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Nelson Bunker Hunt, a Texas oilman who once tried to corner the silver market with one of his brothers only to see the move end in financial disaster, has died. He was 88.
Hunt died on Tuesday at a Dallas assisted living centre after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, said his brother, W Herbert Hunt.
Hunt had been among the world’s wealthiest men. His father was the legendary Texas oilman HL Hunt, who left behind a multi-billion dollar fortune and set up Placid Oil, once one of the biggest independent oil companies.
Nelson Bunker Hunt built on his father’s oil and gas holdings, finding a rich Libyan oil field only to have it nationalised by Muammar Gaddafi. He owned many acres of farm and ranch land in Australia, race horses and an ancient coin collection.
But a huge soured bet on the silver market by Nelson and Herbert Hunt led to legal problems and bankruptcy. The holdings grew to nearly $4.5bn by January 1980 and they lost more than $1bn in March 1980 when the price of silver collapsed.
The brothers agreed to lifetime bans from trading in commodities futures and a $10m penalty with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which alleged they had manipulated the price of silver.
Sliding prices for oil, land and commodities further dented their fortunes.
Nelson Bunker Hunt filed for bankruptcy protection in 1988 and much of his remaining fortune was liquidated to pay creditors and the Internal Revenue Service, the federal tax collection agency.
A funeral was scheduled for Friday at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, to be followed by a private graveside service, Hunt’s brother said.
