University of California, Berkeley (BS) University of Pennsylvania (MBA)
Occupation(s)
Businessman, financier
Known for
Developing the High-yield bond market, Indictment for securities fraud
Criminal charges
Securities and reporting violations (1989)
Criminal penalty
Served 22 months in prison $600 million fine
Criminal status
Released Pardoned (February 18, 2020)[1]
Spouse
Lori Hackel
(m. 1968)
Children
3
Relatives
Lowell Milken (brother)
Website
www.mikemilken.com
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"),[2] and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating U.S. securities laws.[3] Milken's compensation while head of the high-yield bond department at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s exceeded $1 billion over a four-year period, a record for U.S. income at that time.[4] With a net worth of US$6 billion as of 2022, he is among the richest people in the world.[5][6]
Milken was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 in an insider trading investigation. In a plea bargain, 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)[7] and permanently barred from the securities industry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His sentence was later reduced to two years for cooperating with testimony against his former colleagues and for good behavior.[8] Milken was pardoned by President Donald Trump on February 18, 2020.
Since his release from prison, he has become known for his charitable donations.[9] He is co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, chairman of the Milken Institute, and founder of medical philanthropies funding research into melanoma, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases.[10] A prostate cancer survivor, Milken has devoted significant resources to research on the disease.[11]
^"Trump grants clemency to former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik, financier Michael Milken". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
^"Michael Milken's Guilt". The New York Times. April 26, 1990. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
^The Associated Press (February 22, 1991). "Milken Assigned to Bay Area Prison". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
^Eichenwald, Kurt (April 3, 1989). "Wages Even Wall St. Can't Stomach". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017. Surely no one in American history has earned anywhere near as much in a year as Mr. Milken.
^"Profile: Michael Milken". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
^Cite error: The named reference HC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Michael Milken - Philanthropist, Financier, Medical Research Innovator & Public Health Advocate".
^"Milken's Sentence Reduced by Judge; 7 Months Are Left". The New York Times. August 6, 1992. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
^Jacob Berkman, "Zuckerberg among nine new Jewish individuals and families to take the Giving Pledge". JTA.org. December 10, 2012. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
^Daniels, Cora (November 29, 2004). "The Man Who Changed Medicine". Fortune. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
^LAURA LANDRO (May 3, 2010). "Donor of the Day: Gift Funds Melanoma Research". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
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...
nonpartisan and non-ideological. The institute was founded in 1991 by MichaelMilken, a former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker who gained notoriety for significant...
published as "The Shadow Government." On March 29, 1989, American financier MichaelMilken was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and fraud relating to an investigation...
Lowell Milken (born 1948), American businessman, philanthropist, brother of MichaelMilken Institute Milken Institute School of Public Health Milken Community...
into bankruptcy in 1990, and was headed by his brother MichaelMilken. In 1985, he created the Milken Educator Awards, widely considered the preeminent teacher...
illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive MichaelMilken. At its height, it was a Bulge Bracket bank, as the fifth-largest investment...
Bond King" MichaelMilken, Republican majority leader of the New York State Senate Dean Skelos, and Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Wood...
The Milken Family Foundation is a private foundation established by Lowell Milken and MichaelMilken in 1982. Lowell Milken serves as chairman and co-founder...
Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, a classmate of Sally Field and MichaelMilken. While a pre-med student at the University of California, Los Angeles...
influential people in global business. He was interviewed by MichaelMilken at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference, where he discussed his ownership...
Partners; husband of Chelsea Clinton MichaelMilken (born 1946), financier, junk-bond specialist, founder of the Milken Institute Eric Mindich, hedge fund...
The Milken Educator Awards is an educator recognition program in the United States that provides unrestricted grants of $25,000 cash to teachers deemed...
Many of the corporate raiders of the 1980s were onetime clients of MichaelMilken, whose investment banking firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert helped raise...
Retrieved July 6, 2015.[permanent dead link] Thebault, Reis. "Who is MichaelMilken, the 'junk bond king' Trump just pardoned?". Washington Post. Archived...
cheerleader. Her class of 1964 classmates included financier MichaelMilken and talent agent Michael Ovitz, while actress Cindy Williams was two years behind...
Rich, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, corporate raider Victor Posner, MichaelMilken, The Washington Post newspaper, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, former...
4778833°W / 34.1255306; -118.4778833 Milken Community School (originally Milken Community Schools, colloquially Milken) is a private Jewish high school and...
financed the $630 million project largely with high-yield bonds issued by MichaelMilken. The resort's high cost and emphasis on luxury meant that it was considered...
Department of Public Health Sciences since 1997 Milken, Michael. "Forbes All-Star Book Club: MichaelMilken Reviews 'Factfulness'". Forbes. Hardyment, Christina...
manufacturer. Chief Executive Grassgreen, informed by 'junk bond king' MichaelMilken from the firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert, led the company on an ill-conceived...
Boesky and MichaelMilken to conceal their stock purchases during the 1984 Posner-led takeover of the Fischbach Corporation. While Boesky and Milken agreed...
has covered the trials of John DeLorean, Martha Stewart, John Gotti, MichaelMilken, Bernard Madoff, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the Times Square Bomber...
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