Film highlights life of first US corporate raider

A documentary based on the life of America's first corporate raider, Louis Wolfson, is scheduled to be released by start up film company Perilune Pictures.

Wolfson is credited with creating the leveraged buyout and creating a new era on Wall Street.

The documentary film, LEW, being released in mid-March, covers the launch of Wolfson's business career in the 1940s when he borrowed $10,000 to expand his father's Jacksonville, Florida-based scrap metal business into controlling stakes in commercial and industrial companies throughout the US.

Wolfson went on to invest in bridge and dam construction, major shipyards, American Motors and Capital Transit Company, the precursor to the Washington, DC Metro. By the mid-‘50s, Wolfson's net worth was estimated at over $250 million, making him one of the wealthiest men in corporate America.

The filmmakers discovered new archival material about Wolfson, including his role as the major financier behind John Kennedy's bid for the presidency, as well as his involvement with US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, who was forced to resign from the court after receiving payments from Wolfson.

After a controversial investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wolfson was convicted of insider trading in 1967.

After serving nine months in a federal minimum security prison in Florida, Wolfson left Wall Street to devote the rest of his life to horse racing.

The film was written by Max Bachus who knew one of Wolfson's first accountants. “The film explores the life of the first true corporate raider on Wall Street, someone largely forgotten by modern-day Wall Street financiers. They all owe Wolfson a debt of gratitude for the legacy he created," said Bachus.