Distressed Diva Tilton Has More Than Just the SEC to Worry About

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Lynn Tilton is a study in contradictions.

The 55-year-old is a philanthropist for women’s causes who named the buyout firm she founded Patriarch Partners LLC and mailed out Christmas cards of herself dressed in lingerie. A buyer of old-economy businesses such as clothing retailer Spiegel LLC and map maker Rand McNally & Co., Tilton nevertheless embraced new and complex forms of debt to fund her companies.