Paul Teutul Sr. was born on May 1, 1949, in Yonkers, New York. His childhood wasn’t rosy as his father was a workaholic while his mother was a heavy drinker. He had a rough childhood and often recalled being smacked by his parents.
“I’d be sitting there, struggling through my homework, crying after getting smacked, my lip bleeding. Then if I got hit when I didn’t deserve it, my father, rather than saying he was sorry, would yell, ‘That’s one for the next time.”
Paul Teutul Sr. – financial problems, bankruptcy, net worth
Due to his rough childhood, Paul Teutul didn’t have plans nor did he have any aspirations in life.
He started seeing life from another perspective after he joined The Merchant Marines at the age of 18.
Paul told CNBC, “[The boot camp] was like three months of it, not, six weeks. So it was pretty difficult, you know, being 18 years old and being away from home. It was hard for me, you know, to be able to be away and to be able to stick with that and stay there.”
“I think what I did was I challenged myself… I wasn’t much of a runner and I didn’t like running. And where I was there was a dock way down the other end of where I was, and I said to myself if I could run down, and back, then I could make this. And I think..that’s what inspired me to follow through with it.”
From a young age, Paul has always been interested in Motorbikes and he started customizing and building choppers.
Orange County Ironworks, a steel fabrication company soon noticed him and commended his innovation. Many motorcycle magazines wanted to know about his business.
In 2002, he premiered on a reality TV program, American Chopper.
After appearing on the TV show American Chopper, Paul Teutulbecame very popular.
He was on the show with his son, Paul Teutul and after they split following countless arguments, the show ended.
PageSix in 2018 reported that Paul Teutul Sr. filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. He claimed that he owed around $1 million and was only worth $1.8 million. He also reported that he made around $15,000 per month but spent $12,600 to keep up with his lifestyle.
He also went on to disclose his finance saying he only made $16,500 at the time. he only made $16,500 at the time.
His expenses exceeded his income at around $20,000 a month and owed $150,000 to the town of Crawford, New York, for taxes, he added.
He was also sued for fraud by his former business partner in 2017.
According to PageSix, In April 2019, there were documents showing that Paul “failed to provide [her] with a copy of a federal income tax return or transcript for the most recent years, to 1it, 2017 and 2018.”
The whole financial crises left him with only $500,000.
