Born as Steven Litzner in Woodbury, New Jersey, before being adopted. He attended Miami University in Ohio, Hillsborough Community College in Tampa and Columbia University without graduating.

He studied art and ethics at Carnegie-Melon University.

He created artistic representations of money which he traded for services. This frequently put him in conflict with the Secret Service. He was arrested in London in 1986 but acquitted of charges of forgery and counterfeiting. He was arrested in Sydney, Australia, in 1989 but the case was dismissed and Boggs awarded $20,000 in damages. The U.S. Secret Service confiscated 1300 artworks between 1990 and 1992.

He died in Tampa, Florida.

He was the subject of a book, Boggs: A Comedy of Values by Lawrence Weschler (1999).

obit: CW 2/27/2017; NUM March 2017