How Mike Milken witnessed the full power of the establishment triangle: big business, big unions and big government.
62"I don't know whether or not Mike Milken realized at the time that he had found a way of financing an immense revolution in America, but now he has witnessed the full power of the establishment triangle: big business, big unions and big government. As I European, I witnessed the same alliance trying to avoid change and neutralizing those responsible for it."
-- Sir James Goldsmith, British billionaire businessman, former client of Mike Milken, quoted by Edward Jay Epstein in "The Secret World of Mike Milken", 1987
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Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946 in Encino, California) is an American financier who was highly influential in developing the market for junk bonds (a.k.a. "high-yield debt") during the 1970s and 1980s, which in turn fueled the 1980s boom in corporate raids and hostile corporate takeovers. He has been variously labeled as a financial innovator and the epitome of Wall Street greed during the 1980s. He is often still referred to as the "Junk Bond King".His reputation was tarnished by an insider trading investigation which culminated in his indictment on 98 counts of racketeering and fraud in 1989. After a plea bargain, Milken was charged with six securities and reporting violations. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was released after less than two years. He then launched a public relations campaign to highlight his role as a financial innovator, particularly with regard to popularizing higher-risk alternative investments. He also devoted much time and money to charity over the past three decades. With an estimated net worth of around $2.1 billion as of 2007, he is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 458th richest person in the world.
