39 Facts About Michael Milken

1.

Michael Robert Milken was born on July 4,1946 and is an American financier.

2.

Michael Milken is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds, and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating US securities laws.

3.

Michael Milken was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 in an insider trading investigation.

4.

Michael Milken was sentenced to ten years in prison, fined $600 million and permanently barred from the securities industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

5.

Michael Milken's sentence was later reduced to two years for cooperating with testimony against his former colleagues and for good behavior.

6.

Michael Milken was pardoned by President Donald Trump on February 18,2020.

7.

Michael Milken 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.

8.

Michael Milken was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Encino, California.

9.

Michael Milken graduated from Birmingham High School where he was the head cheerleader, and worked while in school at a diner.

10.

Michael Milken's classmates included future Disney president Michael Ovitz and actresses Sally Field and Cindy Williams.

11.

Michael Milken was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

12.

Michael Milken received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

13.

Michael Milken was given control of some capital and permitted to trade.

14.

Michael 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.

15.

In 1978, Michael Milken moved the high-yield bond operation to Century City in Los Angeles.

16.

Michael Milken was chairman of Knowledge Universe until it was sold in 2015.

17.

Dan Stone, a former Drexel executive, wrote in his book April Fools that Michael Milken was under nearly constant scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1979 onward, due to unethical and sometimes illegal behavior in the high-yield department.

18.

Stone claims that Michael Milken viewed the securities laws, rules, and regulations with a degree of contempt, feeling they hindered the free flow of trade.

19.

However, Stone said that while Michael Milken condoned questionable and illegal acts by his colleagues, Michael Milken himself personally followed the rules.

20.

Michael Milken often contacted Fred Joseph, Drexel's president and CEO known for his strict view of the securities laws, with ethical questions.

21.

Only a day later Drexel lawyers discovered suspicious activity in one of the limited partnerships Michael Milken set up to allow members of his department to make their own investments.

22.

Some of Michael Milken's children received warrants, according to Stewart, raising the appearance of Michael Milken self-dealing.

23.

At the very least, Michael Milken's actions were a serious breach of Drexel's internal regulations, and the money managers had breached their fiduciary duty to their clients.

24.

Shortly afterward, Michael Milken resigned from Drexel and formed his own firm, International Capital Access Group.

25.

At Michael Milken's pre-sentencing hearing for securities fraud in 1990, Peizer testified against Michael Milken in exchange for immunity from both criminal prosecution and SEC sanctions.

26.

Two other counts were related to tax evasion in transactions Michael Milken carried out for a client of the firm, David Solomon, a fund manager.

27.

Michael Milken accepted a lifetime ban from any involvement in the securities industry.

28.

In statements to a parole board in 1991, Judge Wood estimated that the "total loss from Michael 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.

29.

Michael Milken's sentence was later reduced to two years from ten; he served 22 months.

30.

In June 2018, it was reported that some of president Donald Trump's supporters and friends, including Kevin McCarthy, Rupert Murdoch, Sheldon Adelson, Elaine Chao, and Rudy Giuliani, the onetime federal prosecutor whose criminal investigation led to Michael Milken's conviction, were urging the president to pardon Michael Milken.

31.

In February 2013, the SEC announced that they were investigating whether Michael Milken violated his lifetime ban from the securities industry.

32.

The investigation revolved around Michael Milken allegedly providing investment advice through Guggenheim Partners.

33.

Michael Milken himself was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in the same month he was released.

34.

In 2003, Michael Milken launched a Washington, DC-based think tank called FasterCures, which seeks greater efficiency in researching all serious diseases.

35.

Michael Milken became the first recipient of the Ig Nobel Economics Prize in 1991.

36.

Ayad Akhtar's play, Junk, set during the bond trading scandals of the 1980s, is partly based on Michael Milken's "fall from grace".

37.

Michael Milken is the inspiration for the main character in the play.

38.

Michael Milken is married to Lori Anne Hackel, whom he had dated in high school.

39.

Michael Milken reportedly follows a vegetarian-like diet rich in fruits and vegetables for its health benefits, and has co-authored a vegan cookbook with Beth Ginsberg.