Rich Dad, Poor Dad author suddenly becomes a bankrupt dad

Oh no its no good news that the man and author behind one of the New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad has filed for bankruptcy on one of his companies after losing approximately $24 million judgement to the chairman and founder of Learning Annex Bill Zanker.

Kiyosaki had used the Learning Annex platform to organize several high profile speaking engagements, including a 2002 appearance at Madison Square Garden and earned so much and to that effect a U.S. District Court jury ruled Zanker and the Annex were entitled to a certain percentage of the profits from those engagements.

Zanker while explaining how he made  Rich Dad, Poor Dad a bestseller told the New York Post,

'I took Kiyosaki's brand and made it bigger. The deal was I would get a percentage and he reneged,' Zanker said.

'We had a signed letter of intent. The Learning Annex is the greatest promoter. We put his 'Rich Dad' brand on a stage. We truly prepared him for great fame and riches. But when it was time for him to pay up, he said no.'

The book has sold over 26 million copies which earned Kiyosaki widespread fame as a financial commentator and celebrity fans.

Will Smith said he was teaching his son about financial responsibility by reading the book and Oprah Winfrey endorsed it on her show.

Even Donald Trump liked his advice, co-writing the book Why We Want You to be Rich with Kiyosaki in 2006.

The book is so successful it's inspired a musical, Women Must Have Money, to be staged in Shanghai this November.

'Oprah believed in him, and Will Smith believed in him, but he didn't keep his promise to us,' Zanker said.

Mike Sullivan, CEO of Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Co., told reporters Kiyosaki would not put personal assets towards the judgement and claimed the judgement was far more than Rich Global LLC's value.

'The dealings we had with the Learning Annex were with a company that hasn't been in business for a number of years,' Sullivan said.

'I am not surprised Learning Annex is upset and angry, the money doesn't exist in that company, and we can't bring money out of the group.

'We have a few million dollars in this company, but not 16 or 20. I can't do anything about a $20 million judgment. We got hit for what we think is a completely outlandish figure.'

Source: Mailonline