Sam Sloan - Career

Career

After leaving Berkeley, Sloan worked two years for the Wall Street investment banking firm of Hayden, Stone & Co. in the over-the-counter trading department. In 1970, he established Samuel H. Sloan & Co., a registered broker-dealer primarily trading over-the-counter stocks and bonds. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought civil actions against Sloan & Co. in 1971–1975 alleging he had failed to maintain adequate books and records. In 1975, the SEC revoked Sloan's broker-dealer registration. After years of litigation, Sloan in 1978 prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court. Sloan argued the case pro se. The opposing attorney was Harvey Pitt, who was later Chairman of the SEC from 2001 to 2003. Sloan won before the U.S. Supreme Court 9–0. Sloan is the last non-lawyer to argue before the court.

Sloan has written an extensive lexicon of Khowar, a language spoken in Chitral, Pakistan. Sloan had a minor role in a commercially-produced film, that later became a video game, Mahjong Hōrōki Classic. He is now primarily a publisher of books and DVDs about chess, go and other subjects.

Sloan is a chess journalist and author. He claims to have traveled to 78 countries, primarily attending chess tournaments. He has claimed to have "won the World Championship of Chinese Chess in Beijing, China, in 1988." He is rated an FM (equivalent to FIDE Master) by the World Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) Association. Sloan has competed in tournaments in Thai (Makrook) and Japanese (Shogi) chess.

Three interviews of Sloan are incorporated in the documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World.