He is worth, by his own count, more than $282 million, and he often goes down to the wire before paying bills.
He commutes in a helicopter. His wife has a Rolls-Royce Corniche, he has a Jaguar XJ6. The North Jersey businessman has two multimillion-dollar homes, including a 4 1/2-acre beach place on Long Island that has nine bathrooms, an elevator and a swimming pool.
"I'm quite substantial, if that's what you wanted to know," Pullman said in a recent interview in his attorney's office.
Yet Allan Pullman and some of the companies he controls have defaulted on more than $160 million in loans over the last seven years, lenders say. About half of that has been repaid, much of it through refinancing.
The courts say that, in Philadelphia alone, Pullman and his companies have been ordered to pay more than $1.6 million over the last decade to claimants who have sued for unpaid bills. Some of those judgments have been appealed; others have been paid.
His companies filed for bankruptcy at least 10 times in 1989 alone - four times in Philadelphia just last month.
His prime Philadelphia property, a 497-unit apartment building on the Parkway, has twice been called "unfit for human habitation."
He was once evicted from his Alpine, N.J., mansion for violating health and building codes.
And his sister has accused him of "looting" their mother's estate.
An Inquirer examination of Pullman's business dealings reveals a shrewd and combative businessman who has amassed a real estate and oil empire that stretches from New York to Texas. In doing so, he has left a trail of broken agreements and belly-up businesses, unpaid merchants and bitter tenants.
"He is unique," said Andrew P. Bralow, head of the Philadelphia City Solicitor's enforcement unit. "Usually, people don't pay taxes because they don't have the money. What it appears is that Mr. Pullman doesn't pay taxes
because he can't be bothered."
