Martin A. Siegel (born 1948) is an American former

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

er who was convicted, along with Ivan Boesky and

Michael Milken Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for High-yield debt, high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony ...

, for

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

during the 1980s.

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Siegel is a graduate of

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. In 1971, he joined Kidder, Peabody & Co. and, during his 15 years at the firm, became known as a

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

specialist. In February 1986, he left Kidder to become a managing director at

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, i ...

. On February 13, 1987, Siegel pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the securities laws and one count of tax evasion. His guilty plea included an agreement to pay over

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

9 million in

civil penalties A civil penalty or civil fine is a financial penalty imposed by a government agency as restitution for wrongdoing. The wrongdoing is typically defined by a Codification (law), codification of legislation, regulations, and decrees. The civil fine ...

and forfeit $10 million more in bonuses and stock owed to him by Drexel—a sum many times greater than the illegal gains from his relationship with Boesky. He received a sentence of two months' imprisonment and five years' probation, rather than ten years, with 3,000 hours of community service. The sentence was light because of his cooperation with other government investigations. His involvement in criminal activities is recounted in the book '' Den of Thieves'' by

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning author James B. Stewart.

References

External links

"A Raid on Wall Street" Time magazine article describing Martin Siegel's involvement in the insider trading scandals of the 1980s

''Taking America: How We Got from the First Hostile Takeover to Megamergers, Corporate Raiding, and Scandal''
by Jeff Madrick, Beard Books, 2003. Retrieved March 10, 2019. 1948 births Living people 20th-century American Jews American fraudsters American people convicted of tax crimes Harvard Business School alumni American financiers 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub