Steven Madden (born March 23, 1958) is an American

fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

er and

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

. He is the founder and former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Steve Madden, Ltd., a publicly traded company.

Life and career

Madden was born in

Far Rockaway, Queens Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...

, the son of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mother and an Irish

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

father. He grew up in adjoining Lawrence and graduated from the local high school in

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Isla ...

. After high school, Madden studied at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

for two years before returning to Long Island. The youngest of three brothers, he started the company with $1,100 in 1990 by selling shoes out of the trunk of his car.

Criminal conviction

Madden's financial affairs were closely entangled with Long Island "

pump and dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operat ...

" brokerage house

Stratton Oakmont Stratton Oakmont, Inc. was a Long Island, New York, "over-the-counter" brokerage house founded in 1989 by Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush. It defrauded many shareholders, leading to the arrest and incarceration of several executives and the ...

, cofounded by Madden's childhood friend Danny Porush, who first lent him money to expand his fledgling company, and then underwrote its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

. In June 2000, a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit was filed against Madden for issuing materially false and misleading statements during the Class Period. A settlement of $9 million was reached in 2004. In 2001, the SEC filed charges against Madden in Federal Court in New York state, alleging SEC violations. Because the violations were not criminal in nature, the SEC was seeking to recover $1,637,000 in a combination of illegally avoided losses, interest, and a civil penalty. In 2002, Madden was convicted of stock manipulation, money laundering, and

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in lo ...

. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison, and was made to resign as CEO from Steven Madden, Ltd. and from the board of directors. Shortly after resigning as CEO, Madden set himself up as a creative consultant with Steven Madden, Ltd., a position for which he drew $700,000 even when he was in prison. Madden served time in the

Federal Prison Camp, Eglin Federal Prison Camp, Eglin was a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison at Auxiliary Field 6, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Lacey Rose of ''Forbes'' wrote that it "was once considered so cushy that the term " Club Fed" was actually c ...

, at

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The 9 ...

, and later the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, near

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. Madden was released from prison in April 2005. He then attended a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

halfway house A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

. Madden's attorney, Joel Winograd, said that Madden would stay at the house for 60 days. After his release from a halfway house, he was restricted to home confinement for a period.

Post-release

Since Madden was released from prison in 2005, the company quickly rebounded, increasing revenue by nearly $100 million in 2006 to $475.1 million. That same year, Steven Madden, Ltd. was named 'Company of the Year' for the second time at the Footwear News Achievement Awards. With Madden currently serving as the founder and design chief, the company continues to show growth year-over-year reporting $1.9 billion in revenue for FY2021. Madden contributed to

The Doe Fund The Doe Fund is a nonprofit organization in the United States that provides paid transitional work, housing, educational opportunities, counseling, and career training to people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and substance abuse. ...

, a charity devoted to working on the causes of homelessness, addiction, and criminal recidivism.

In popular culture

Steve Madden (played by Jake Hoffman) is featured in the

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

film '' The Wolf of Wall Street'', which is based on the Jordan Belfort memoir of the same name. In the movie, Madden is seen visiting Stratton Oakmont, where Belfort gives the brokers a rousing pep talk about pushing Madden's stock. After viewing the film, Madden criticized the portrayal of him as "too nerdy."

Personal life

Madden admits to having abused alcohol and various drugs, and later attended court-ordered rehabilitation. Madden married Wendy Ballew, his former director of operations, in 2005 after he was released from prison. The couple have three children, twins Jack and Stevie Madden, and Goldie Ryan Madden. The couple divorced in 2015.

Awards and honors

*Footwear News Achievement Award Hall of Fame (December 2019) *Footwear News Reader's Choice: Person of the Year Award (December 2011) *

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

Honors Steve Madden & 20 Year Anniversary (June 2010) *Two Ten Foundation Honors Steve Madden (June 2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madden, Steve 1958 births American fashion designers American people of Irish descent Lawrence High School (Cedarhurst, New York) alumni Living people People convicted of fraud People from Far Rockaway, Queens People from Lawrence, Nassau County, New York Shoe designers Shoemakers American chief executives of fashion industry companies