William Peter Tavoulareas (November 9, 1919[citation needed] – January 13, 1996) was a Greek-American petroleum businessman who served as President and Chief Executive of the Mobil Corporation in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1982, Tavoulareas was unsuccessful in bringing a $2 million libel suit against The Washington Post for a November 30, 1979, front page story by Patrick Tyler saying he used his corporate position at Mobil to "set up his son" (Peter Tavoulareas) with a multi-million dollar management services contract with his shipping business, Atlas Maritime Company.
Circuit, including Judges Kenneth Starr, George MacKinnon, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, upheld the ruling in March 1987, finding the story substantially true and holding that "the record abounds with uncontradicted evidence of nepotism in favor of Peter [Tavoulareas' son]" and "insufficient evidence exists in the record to support a finding of constitutional malice".
The report stated that William Tavoulareas "participated in decisions" and was involved with Atlas "from approximately January 1974 through at least February 1976".
[14] Representative Dingell and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held hearings in February 1982 on the SEC's handling of the investigation of Tavoulareas, which included interviewing Sporkin.
[10] He was a close friend of U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.