Andrew Beal

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Daniel Andrew Beal (born November 29, 1952<ref>U.S. Public Records Index, Vol 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.</ref>) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and amateur mathematician. He is a Dallas-based businessman who accumulated wealth in real estate and banking. Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Beal is founder and chairman of Beal Bank and Beal Bank USA, as well as other affiliated companies. According to the 2025 Forbes List of Billionaires, Beal has an estimated worth of US$12 billion.<ref>Heckler, Amber (April 2025). 27 Dallas billionaires land on new Forbes list of world's richest people. CultureMap Dallas.</ref>

A number theorist, Beal is also known for the Beal conjecture,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a mathematical generalization of Fermat's Last Theorem. He has funded a $1 million standing prize for its proof or disproof.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His banks sponsor two annual science and technology fairs affiliated with the International Science & Engineering Fair.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Beal participated in some high-stakes poker games in the mid-2000s that were the subject of a book.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and education

Beal grew up in Lansing, Michigan, where his mother worked in state government, and his father was a mechanical engineer. His siblings include an older brother and a younger sister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a teenager, Beal began earning money by fixing and reselling used televisions with the help of his uncle. While attending high school he also installed apartment security systems. He also started a business moving houses and managed rental properties.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Beal excelled on his high school debate team at Lansing Sexton High School and went on to enroll at Michigan State University, where he studied mathematics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Business ventures and investments

Real estate investing

At age 19, Beal became a real estate investor when he bought a house in Lansing for $6,500 and started leasing it for $119 per month. Beal became known for buying properties, renovating them, and selling them. In 1976, he attended an auction of federal properties in Washington, DC and bid on an apartment building in Waco, TX. His winning bid was $217,500. Three years later he sold the building for more than $1 million. Also in 1976, he enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, TX, but left school to focus on business endeavors.

In 1981, Beal and a partner bought two housing project buildings in disrepair, the Brick Towers in Newark, New Jersey, for $25,000. Two years later, they sold the repaired buildings for $3.2 million to a private investor. In 2017, he sold his Dallas, TX estate, listed previously for $132 million, through Concierge Auctions for $36.2 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Beal Bank and Beal Bank USA

In 1988, Beal opened a bank in Dallas, and in 2004, another in Las Vegas. Since then, the banks have purchased financial assets and held them as the market improved. The banks’ purchases have included:

• Power generation and infrastructure bonds during the post-Enron California rolling blackouts and energy-deregulation crisis in 2001
• Debt instruments backed by aircraft after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the USA
• Commercial and real estate loans during the global credit crisis of 2008

Based on the Uniform Bank Performance Report from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Beal Bank's return on assets (ROA) was 8.1 in 2008, several times in excess of its peer group (insured savings banks with assets greater than $1 billion).<ref name="ffiec.gov">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 2009 to 2012 Beal Bank generally exceeded its peer group.<ref>White, Martha C. "Five Banks That Don't Suck." Big Money. April 10, 2009: n. page. Web. September 4, 2012.</ref>

Beal Bank USA's ROA is generally several times in excess of its peer group (insured commercial banks with assets greater than $3 billion).<ref name="ffiec.gov"/>

Beal Bank and Beal Bank USA report combined total capital in excess of $2.7 billion and combined total assets in excess of $7.2 billion as of June 2019.<ref>[1] Financial summary of Beal Bank and Beal Bank USA on banking industry site depositaccounts.com</ref>

They have a total of 37 branch locations and offer online banking also. Both banks are members of and are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). They offer deposit products to the public including CDs, money market accounts, statement savings accounts, and IRA CD accounts that are insured by the FDIC. Because they do not offer consumer loans or checking accounts, the banks are considered wholesale banks. Both banks purchase pools of non-agency residential first liens and commercial real estate-secured loans in order to fund commercial loans and participations in loans and syndications, through affiliates.

Beal's major businesses as of 2021 include:

• Beal Bank, based in Dallas
• Beal Bank USA, based in Las Vegas, NV, and founded in August 2004 (formerly Beal Bank Nevada)
• CSG Investments. Inc.,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> based in Dallas

• Loan Acquisition Corporation,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> based in Dallas

• CLG Hedge Fund, LLC,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> based in Dallas

Beal Aerospace

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1997, as part of a space privatization trend encouraged by the federal government, Beal started an aerospace company to build rockets with the goal of placing communications satellites in orbit. Operating with more than 200 employees from a 163,000-square-foot space in Frisco, Texas, Beal Aerospace focused on a three-stage, 200-foot-tall rocket. Powered by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene, the engine eliminated the need for a separate ignition system because, as the hydrogen peroxide oxidized, it ignited the kerosene.

Facing competition from NASA's Space Launch Initiative, Beal closed the company and ceased operations on October 23, 2000. Beal cited NASA's commercial practices as the primary reason for closing, including the difficulty private-sector launch systems face when competing with the governmental subsidies of NASA.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Philanthropy

Beal has donated millions of dollars to support science and math initiatives. Through his banks, Beal is an annual title sponsor of:

• The Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> affiliated with Southern Methodist University

• The South Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> affiliated with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Both fairs are sanctioned events of the International Science & Engineering Fair, and open to students in grades 6 through 12 with winners moving on to national and international competitions.

Beal Bank was the sponsor for the Chemistry category of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held in Dallas in May 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Beal also donated $1 million to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Dallas, which opened in December 2012. Beal's companies donated more than 200 computers to the Dallas Independent School District <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for student use.

Beal conjecture

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In 1993, Beal released the Beal conjecture, that implies Fermat's Last Theorem as a corollary. To encourage research on the conjecture, Beal funded a standing prize of $1 million for its proof or disproof. The funds are held in trust by the American Mathematical Society,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and an informational website on the Beal Conjecture is hosted by the University of North Texas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of January 2025, the Beal Conjecture prize remains unclaimed.

Poker

During visits to Las Vegas between 2001 and 2004, Beal participated in high-stakes poker games against professional players. The games included $100,000 to $200,000 limit Texas Hold 'Em poker. On May 13, 2004, at the Las Vegas Bellagio, Beal won one of the largest single hands in poker history, $11.7 million.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The games have been chronicled in the Michael Craig book The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time.

While the games outlined in Craig's book ended in 2004, Beal returned to Las Vegas from February 1–5, 2006 to again take on "The Corporation" in a $50,000/100,000 Limit Hold 'Em match at the Wynn Las Vegas Casino. Opponents included Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Ted Forrest, and others.

On February 5, 2006, Beal was down $3.3 million. He then returned to the Wynn Casino a week later, and won approximately $13.6 million from the corporation during daily poker sessions from February 12 to 15.<ref name="CraigBluff">Template:Cite journal</ref> The games resumed February 21 to 23, with world champion poker player Phil Ivey representing the Corporation against Beal at limits of $30,000/60,000 and $50,000/100,000. During these three days, Beal lost $16.6 million to Ivey.<ref name="auto"/> According to Jennifer Harman, during an interview on Poker Podcast with Daniel Negreanu on October 26, 2016, the games went as high as $100,000/200,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

He has two children with his first wife.<ref>Dallas News: "Beal Bank owner paved his own road to becoming Dallas' richest man" by Brendan Case November 26, 2010</ref> In 1996,<ref name=DallasNewsDivorce>Dallas News: "Dallas billionaire Andy Beal's divorce turns messy" By BRENDAN CASE December 27, 2010</ref> he married Estonian<ref>Dallas News: "Power tables: Where the elite, Hollywood superstars eat in Dallas" by Alan Peppard March 29, 2012</ref> immigrant Simona Beal.<ref name=DallasNewsDivorce /> They have four children.<ref name=DallasNewsDivorce /> Simona filed for divorce in 2010.<ref name=DallasNewsDivorce /> Beal has three children with Olya Sinitsyna.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Beal is a libertarian.<ref name="bankerwhosaidno" /> In the 2016 United States presidential election, Beal initially endorsed Rand Paul, donating $250,000 to the senator's campaign.<ref name="wsjthreefriends" /> Following Paul's exit from the race, Beal endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2016.<ref name="wsjthreefriends" /> Beal served as one of the top economic advisers to Trump's 2016 campaign.<ref name="jtankersley">Template:Cite news</ref> Beal donated $2 million to a Trump super PAC in September 2016, and another $1 million for the inaugural festivities according to Forbes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Schwartz, Brian, "Pro-Trump super PAC backed solely by bank executive used donations to fund Facebook conspiracy meme campaign", CNBC, April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019.</ref> He contributed $1.8Template:Nbspmillion to Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.<ref name="Trump 2020 donors">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the aftermath of the January 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, an assistant to Beal told Bloomberg News that Beal "doesn't know what happenedTemplate:Nbsp... and he doesn't believe mainstream news reporting anymore."<ref name="bloomberg-melin-pendleton-2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>