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 bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating U.S. securities laws. Milken's compensation while head of the high-yield bond department 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 ...

in the late 1980s exceeded $1 billion over a four-year period, a record for U.S. income at that time. With a net worth of 6 billion as of 2022, he is among the richest people in the world. Milken was indicted for

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

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.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 ...

investigation. In a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

, he pleaded guilty to securities and reporting violations but not to racketeering or insider trading. Milken was sentenced to ten years in prison, fined $600 million (although his personal website claims $200 million) and permanently barred from the securities industry by the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

. His sentence was later reduced to two years for cooperating with testimony against his former colleagues and for good behavior. Milken was pardoned by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on February 18, 2020. Since his release from prison, he has become known for his charitable donations. He is co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, chairman of the

Milken Institute The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California, with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. It publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-bas ...

, and founder of medical philanthropies funding research into

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. A

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

survivor, Milken has devoted significant resources to research on the disease.

Early life and education

Milken was born into a middle-classJames F. Peltz
"Milken's Largess Slows Down: Donations: The junk bond king's charitable trusts have virtually stopped growing since his 1989 federal indictment"
''Los Angeles Times'', September 15, 1992.

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 in

Encino, California Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History Etymology The name Encino is the misspelling in masculine of Encina, the Spanish language, Spanish word for "holm oak” (Quercus ilex). The Spanis ...

. He graduated from Birmingham High School where he was the head cheerleader and worked while in school at a diner. His classmates included future

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

president Michael Ovitz and actresses

Sally Field Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has performed in movies, Broadway theater, television, and made records of popular music. Known for her extensive work on screen and stage, she has received many accola ...

and Cindy Williams. In 1968, he graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with a B.S. with highest honors. He was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He received his MBA from the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. While at Berkeley, Milken was influenced by credit studies authored by W. Braddock Hickman, a former president of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-based headquarters of the U.S. Federal Reserve System's Fourth Federal Reserve Districts, District. The district is composed of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky ...

, who noted that a portfolio of non-investment grade bonds offered "risk-adjusted" returns greater than that of an investment-grade portfolio.

Career

Through his Wharton professors, Milken landed a summer job at Drexel Harriman Ripley, an old-line

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 ...

, in 1969. After completing his MBA, he joined Drexel (by then known as Drexel Firestone) as director of low-grade bond research. He was also given control of some capital and permitted to trade. Over the next 17 years, he had only four down months. Drexel merged with Burnham and Company in 1973 to form Drexel Burnham. Despite the firm's name, Burnham was the nominal survivor; the Drexel name came first only at the insistence of the more powerful investment banks, whose blessing was necessary for the merged firm to inherit Drexel's position as a "major" firm. Milken was one of the few prominent holdovers from the Drexel side of the merger, and he became the merged firm's head of convertibles. He persuaded his new boss, fellow Wharton alumnus Tubby Burnham, to let him start a high-yield bond trading department—an operation that soon earned a 100 percent return on investment. By 1976, Milken's income at the firm, which had become

, was estimated at $5 million a year. In 1978, Milken moved the high-yield bond operation to

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Los Angeles, Cent ...

in Los Angeles.

High-yield bonds and leveraged buyouts

By the mid-1980s, Milken's network of high-yield bond buyers (notably Fred Carr's

Executive Life Insurance Company Executive Life Insurance Company (ELIC) was once the largest life insurance company in California. Its financial problems and subsequent insolvency in April 1991 shocked its policyholders and the financial world. At the time, First Executive was ...

and Tom Spiegel's Columbia Savings & Loan) had reached a size that enabled him to raise large amounts of money quickly. This money-raising ability also facilitated the activities of

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

(LBO) firms such as

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

and of the so-called "

greenmail Greenmail or greenmailing is a financial maneuver where investors buy enough shares in a target company to threaten a hostile takeover, prompting the target company to buy back the shares at a premium to prevent the takeover. Corporate raids invo ...

ers". Most of them were armed with a " highly confident letter" from Drexel, a tool Drexel's corporate finance wing crafted that promised to raise the necessary debt in time to fulfill the buyer's obligations. It carried no legal status, but by that time Milken had a reputation for being able to make markets for any bonds that he underwrote. For this reason, "highly confident letters" were considered to reliably demonstrate capacity to pay. Supporters, like George Gilder in his book ''Telecosm'' (2000), state that Milken was "a key source of the organizational changes that have impelled economic growth over the last twenty years. Most striking was the productivity surge in capital, as Milken... and others took the vast sums trapped in old-line businesses and put them back into the markets." Despite his influence in the financial world during the 1980s, (at least one source called him the most powerful American financier since

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...

), Milken is an intensely private man who shuns publicity; he reportedly owned almost all photographs taken of him.

Later career

Milken and his brother Lowell founded Knowledge Universe in 1996, as well as Knowledge Learning Corporation (KLC), the parent company of KinderCare Learning Centers, the largest for-profit

child care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

provider in the country. Michael Milken was chairman of Knowledge Universe until it was sold in 2015. He invested in K12 Inc., a publicly traded education management organization (EMO) that provides online schooling, including to

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

students, for whom services are paid by tax dollars, which is the largest EMO in terms of enrollment.

Scandal

Dan Stone, a former Drexel executive, wrote in his book ''April Fools'' that Milken was under nearly constant scrutiny from the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

from 1979 onward due to unethical and sometimes illegal behavior in the high-yield department. Milken's role in such behavior has been much debated. Stone claims that Milken viewed the securities laws, rules, and regulations with a degree of contempt, feeling they hindered the free flow of trade. However, Stone said that while Milken condoned questionable and illegal acts by his colleagues, Milken himself personally followed the rules. Milken often contacted Fred Joseph, Drexel's president and CEO, with ethical questions; Joseph was known for his strict view of the securities laws. On the other hand, several of the sources James B. Stewart used for '' Den of Thieves'' told him that Milken often tried to get as much as five times the maximum markup on trades that was permitted at the time. Harvey A. Silverglate, a defense attorney who represented Milken during the appellate process, disputes that view in his book ''Three Felonies a Day'': "Milken's biggest problem was that some of his most ingenious but entirely lawful maneuvers were viewed, by those who initially did not understand them, as felonious, precisely because they were novel – and often extremely profitable."

Ivan Boesky and an intensifying investigation

The SEC inquiries never advanced beyond the investigation phase until 1986, when arbitrageur Ivan Boesky pleaded guilty to securities fraud as part of a larger insider trading investigation. As part of his plea, Boesky implicated Milken in several illegal transactions, including insider trading,

stock manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation occurs when someone intentionally alters the supply or demand of a security to influence its price. This can involve spreading misleading information, executing misleading trades, or manipulating ...

, fraud, and stock parking (buying stocks for the benefit of another). This led to an SEC probe of Drexel, as well as a separate criminal probe by

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

, then

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the United States Attorney, chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York County, ...

. Although both investigations were almost entirely focused on Milken's department, Milken refused to talk with Drexel (which launched its own internal investigation) except through his lawyers. It turned out that Milken's legal team believed Drexel would be forced to cooperate with the government at some point, believing that a securities firm would not survive the bad publicity of a long criminal and SEC probe. For two years, Drexel insisted that nothing illegal had occurred, even when the SEC sued Drexel in 1988. Later that year, Giuliani began considering an indictment of Drexel under the powerful Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Drexel management, concluding that a financial institution could not possibly survive a RICO indictment, immediately began plea bargain talks. However, talks collapsed on December 19, when Giuliani made several demands that went beyond even what those who believed an indictment would destroy the firm were willing to accept. For example, Giuliani demanded that Milken leave the firm if indicted. Only a day later, Drexel lawyers discovered suspicious activity in one of the limited partnerships Milken set up to allow members of his department to make their own investments. That entity, MacPherson Partners, had acquired several warrants for the stock of

Storer Broadcasting Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...

in 1985. At the time,

was in the midst of a

of Storer, and Drexel was lead

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...

for the bonds being issued. One of Drexel's other clients bought several Storer warrants and sold them back to the high-yield bond department. The department in turn sold them to MacPherson. This partnership included Milken, other Drexel executives, and a few Drexel customers. It also included several managers of

money market fund A money market fund (also called a money market mutual fund) is an open-end mutual fund that invests in short-term debt securities such as US Treasury bills and commercial paper. Money market funds are managed with the goal of maintaining a hig ...

s who had worked with Milken in the past. It appeared that the

money manager Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified inve ...

s bought the warrants for themselves and did not offer the same opportunity to the funds they managed. Some of Milken's children also received warrants, according to Stewart, raising the appearance of Milken self-dealing. The warrants to money managers were especially problematic. At the very least, Milken's actions were a serious breach of Drexel's internal regulations, and the money managers had breached their

fiduciary duty A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (legal person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, fo ...

to their clients. At worst, the warrants could have been construed as

bribes Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

to the money managers, to influence decisions they made for their funds. Indeed, several money managers were eventually convicted on bribery charges. The discovery of MacPherson Partners—whose existence had not been known to the public at the time—seriously eroded Milken's credibility with the board. On December 21, 1988, Drexel entered an

Alford plea In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act a ...

to six counts of stock parking and stock manipulation. It allowed Drexel to maintain its innocence while conceding that it "was not in a position to dispute" the allegations made by the government. As part of the deal, Drexel agreed that Milken had to leave the firm if indicted.

Indictment and sentencing

Milken Family Foundation Award - 39881905411

In March 1989, a federal grand jury indicted Milken, Lowell Milken, and Bruce L. Newberg, a former Drexel junk bond trader, on 98 counts of

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

tax fraud Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trust (property), trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax au ...

, stock parking (concealing "Drexel's ownership of 6f securities by causing the securities to be secretly purchased or sold through affiliates of Boesky or Princeton/Newport for the purpose of gaining secret and unlawful advantages and profits in corporate takeover contests"), and other crimes. One charge was that Boesky paid Drexel $5.3 million in 1986 for Milken's share of profits from illegal trading. This payment was represented as a consulting fee to Drexel. Shortly afterward, Milken resigned from Drexel and formed his own firm, International Capital Access Group. Milken's protege Terren Peizer had worked as a

junk bond In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit eve ...

salesman for Milken, managing an account with which Drexel had an illegal arrangement that included insider trading and phony tax losses. Peizer provided material evidence to prosecutors against Milken. At Milken's pre-sentencing hearing for

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.immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

from both

criminal prosecution In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

and SEC sanctions.David A. Vise (September 12, 1989)
"New Charges against Milken Expected"
''The Washington Post''. On April 24, 1990, Milken pleaded guilty to six counts of securities and tax violations. Three of them involved dealings with Boesky to conceal the real owner of a stock: *Aiding and abetting another person's failure to file an accurate 13d statement with the SEC, since the schedule was not amended to reflect an understanding that any loss would be made up *Sending confirmation slips through the mail that failed to disclose that a commission was included in the price *Aiding and abetting another in filing inaccurate

broker-dealer In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...

reports with the SEC Two other counts were related to tax evasion in transactions Milken carried out for a client of the firm, David Solomon, a fund manager: *Selling stock without disclosure of an understanding that the purchaser would not lose money *Agreeing to sell securities to a customer and to buy those securities back at a real loss to the customer, but with an understanding that he would try to find a future profitable transaction to make up for any losses The last count was for conspiracy to commit these five violations. As part of his plea, Milken agreed to pay $200 million in fines. At the same time, he agreed to a settlement with the SEC in which he paid $400 million to investors who had been hurt by his actions. He also accepted a lifetime ban from any involvement in the securities industry. In a related civil lawsuit against Drexel, he agreed to pay $500 million to Drexel's investors. Critics of the government charge that the government indicted Milken's brother Lowell to pressure Milken to settle, a tactic some legal scholars condemn as unethical. "I am troubled by – and other scholars are troubled by – the notion of putting relatives on the bargaining table," said Vivian Berger, a professor at Columbia University Law School, in a 1990 interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. As part of the deal, the case against Lowell was dropped. Federal investigators also questioned some of Milken's relatives about their investments. At Milken's sentencing, Judge Kimba Wood told him: In statements to a parole board in 1991, Judge Wood estimated that the "total loss from Milken's crimes" was $318,000, less than the government's estimate of $4.7 million, and she recommended that he be eligible for parole in three years. Milken's sentence was later reduced to two years from ten; he served 22 months.Al Gini & Alexei M. Marcou
Case Studies in Business Ethics
; accessed April 24, 2018.

2013 SEC investigation

In February 2013, the SEC announced that they were investigating whether Milken violated his lifetime ban from the securities industry. The investigation concerned Milken's allegedly providing investment advice through

Guggenheim Partners Guggenheim Partners, Inc is a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services. Guggenheim has c. 2,000 employees. The firm has offices ...

. Since 2011, the SEC had been investigating Guggenheim's relationship with Milken.

Presidential pardon

In June 2018, it was reported that some of president

's supporters and friends, including

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January until he was Remova ...

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, and political donor. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which founded the Marina Bay Sa ...

, Elaine Chao, and

, the onetime federal prosecutor whose criminal investigation led to Milken's conviction, were urging the president to pardon Milken. Milken's attempts to secure a presidential pardon spanned multiple administrations. On February 18, 2020, Trump granted a full pardon to Milken. However, his previous trading license which he lost following his conviction still remained void, and he would still have to reapply and obtain a new trading license in order to return to trading securities.

Philanthropy

According to ''Forbes'', Milken has given away between 5–10% of his fortune, earning a philanthropy score of 3 out of 5.Profile
Michael Milken
Forbes as of October 21, 2022 Upon his release from prison in 1993, Milken founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation for

research, which by 2010 was "the largest philanthropic source of funds for research into prostate cancer". Milken himself was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in the same month he was released. His cancer is currently in remission. The Prostate Cancer Foundation works closely with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

through its Home Run Challenge program to promote awareness of prostate cancer and raise money for medical research. Each season in the weeks leading up to Father's Day, Milken visits many ballparks and appears on TV and radio broadcasts during the games. In 2003, Milken launched a Washington, D.C.–based

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

called FasterCures, which seeks greater efficiency in researching all serious diseases. Initiatives of FasterCures include TRAIN, Partnering for Cures, and the Philanthropy Advisory Service. On March 11, 2014, President Steven Knapp of

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in Washington, D.C. announced the university was renaming its public health school after Milken as a result of a total of $80 million in gifts, $50 million from the Milken Institute and the Milken Family Foundation and $30 million gift from Viacom chairman

Sumner Redstone Sumner Murray Redstone ( Rothstein; May 27, 1923 – August 11, 2020) was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom, chairman of CBS Corporation (both companies m ...

. The gifts were designated for research and scholarship on public health issues.

In popular culture

Milken became the first recipient of the Ig Nobel Economics Prize in 1991. Ayad Akhtar's 2016 play '' Junk'', set during the bond trading scandals of the 1980s, is partly based on Milken's "fall from grace". Milken is the inspiration for the main character in the play. Milken is referenced by Hank Scorpio in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode “You Only Move Twice”. Milken is referenced by Chris Stevens in ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents in the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska, that originally aired on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It rec ...

'' Season 6, Ep. 5 – The Robe (31:29). “Trust and honesty. The age-old quest of

Diogenes Diogenes the Cynic, also known as Diogenes of Sinope (c. 413/403–c. 324/321 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy), Cynicism. Renowned for his ascetic lifestyle, biting wit, and radical critique ...

in a post-Milken universe.”

Personal life

Milken is married to Lori Anne Hackel, whom he had dated in high school. The couple have three children. He reportedly follows a vegetarian-like diet rich in fruits and vegetables for its health benefits and has co-authored two vegan cookbooks with Beth Ginsberg.

References

;Notes ;Further reading * Connie Bruck - '' The Predators' Ball: the inside story of Drexel Burnham and the rise of the junk bond raiders'', New York: American Lawyer/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1988, Penguin paperback (updated), 1989. * Fenton Bailey - "Fall From Grace: The Untold Story of Michael Milken", Carol Publishing Corporation (October 1992), . * James B. Stewart - '' Den of Thieves'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991, (). *

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before enter ...

- ''A License to Steal: the Untold Story of Michael Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation'',

, 1992 * Daniel R. Fischel - ''Payback: the conspiracy to destroy Michael Milken and his financial revolution'', New York: HarperBusiness, 1995, (). * Robert Sobel - ''Dangerous Dreamers: The Financial Innovators from Charles Merrill to Michael Milken (1993), (). *

External links

''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. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milken, Michael 1946 births 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American philanthropists American bankers American billionaires American businesspeople convicted of crimes American financiers American investors American white-collar criminals Birmingham High School alumni Businesspeople from California Corporate raiders Drexel Burnham Lambert Finance fraud History of banking Ig Nobel laureates Junk bonds sellers Living people People from Encino, Los Angeles 20th-century prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government People pardoned by Donald Trump Stock and commodity market managers University of California, Berkeley alumni Wharton School alumni