Michael Milken

Who is Michael Milken?

Michael Robert Milken is an American business magnate, financier and philanthropist. He is noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds, for his conviction following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating U.S. securities laws, and for his charitable giving.

Milken was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 in an insider trading investigation. As the result of a plea bargain, he pled guilty to securities and reporting violations but not to racketeering or insider trading. Milken was sentenced to ten years in prison, fined $600 million, and permanently barred from the securities industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. His sentence was later reduced to two years for cooperating with testimony against his former colleagues and for good behavior.

His critics cited him as the epitome of Wall Street greed during the 1980s, and nicknamed him the "Junk Bond King". Supporters, like George Gilder in his book, Telecosm, state that "Milken was a key source of the organizational changes that have impelled economic growth over the last twenty years.