The empire of Ellison Trine Starnes, Jr. got off to a shaky start in 1973, when at the age of 28, he was sued successfully by Billie Jean Woodward, an investor in CIC Cosmetics International, who claimed Starnes defrauded her with false statements about the condition of a Dallas company that went bankrupt. By 1976, he lost two more judgments and filed for bankruptcy himself, listing debts of $2.4 million and assets of $6,600. (Left) A half-ounce of musk oil bottled in the 1970s by CIC Cosmetics International Corporation of Dallas, Texas, for sale on eBay.

Born in 1945, Ellison was the son of a Texas evangelist. He attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, but was forthcoming about not being a good student.

In 1983, his financial health improved enough for Continental Savings Association to loan him $25 million. Marina City Associates, a limited partnership led by Starnes, paid $11.6 million (roughly equal to $36.5 million in 2024) to Charles R. Swibel to buy from him the 16-story office building, which cost at least $10 million to build, and all the commercial property at Marina City. However, with no equity in the property, it was an $11.6 million profit for Swibel.

Continental, then located in the Houston metropolitan area, may have identified Starnes to Swibel as a potential buyer. Howard Swibel says Continental loaned his father, Charles, all the money to purchase the commercial property at Marina City in 1977, the same year in which the residential property started being sold to the public as condominium units.

Why did he want to sell? Said Howard in 2008, it was “an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Charles Swibel continued to manage the commercial property for Starnes for at least three years after he sold it to him.

“They definitely sought his advice,” said Howard. “He gave them advice about tenants because he was the one who had most of the connections with the tenants.”

In 1984, just eight years after his first bankruptcy, Starnes had rebounded, controlling 175 companies and real estate partnerships, 50 properties, and 500 employees. With his net worth estimated at $222 million, Starnes had million-dollar homes in Houston, Dallas, and Vail, Colorado, a luxury skybox at Texas Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys played, and a private airplane.

Commercial tenants kicked out

One of the first things Starnes did when he took over the Marina City property was to evict many of the office and retail tenants, in order to renovate the complex. The renovation, however, ran into financial problems and Marina City Associates fell behind on its mortgage payments to Continental.

Said Howard Swibel, “These people had represented themselves as being savvy operators. And then they got themselves into financial distress.”

His father may have felt bad about the problems because people blamed him, Howard suspects, even though by that time he was not involved and had no control over the commercial property.

Starnes’s roller coaster ride tipped downward again in 1986. He defaulted on three business loans – totaling $77.5 million – from Silverado Savings and Loan, directors of which included Neil Bush, whose family included two U.S. presidents.

Continental Savings Association, which held the $12.5 million mortgage, filed for foreclosure in 1987. But Continental was declared insolvent the next year and taken over by the now-defunct Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC).

In 1988, Starnes declared bankruptcy again, leaving behind more than 800 creditors, including 21 banks and savings and loans. He and his wife had 34 checking accounts with 22 financial institutions. He listed 48 pending lawsuits against him, including a suit by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which took over for the FSLIC when it was abolished, that claimed he had defrauded seven failed banks. Although he listed $103 million in total debt, the Associated Press estimated his debt just to banks and savings and loans was closer to $500 million.