‘Ivan the Terrible’: Wall Street’s poster boy of greed

Ivan Boesky, who reached the pinnacle of fame and fortune as a high-flying Wall Street arbitrageur in the 1980s only to be exposed as a cheat in the insider-trading scandal that defined the era, has died. He was 87.reported his death, citing his daughter, Marianne Boesky. No details were immediately available.As junk bonds fuelled a wave of hostile acquisitions, Boesky became the archetype of the savvy speculator, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on takeover bets.

After several years working at financial firms where he learned the business of risk arbitrage, Boesky started his own investment fund in 1975 with $US700,000 from his in-laws. Unlike other arbitragers who generally avoided publicity, Boesky embraced it. He hired a publicist to get him quoted in the media, wrote a 1985 book about his experiences in high finance called “Merger Mania” and travelled the country to promote it in speeches.By the mid-1980s, the bull market on Wall Street that allowed savvy investors to make millions also led regulators to suspect the markets were rigged in favour of those with inside information.

A few months later, Boesky cut a deal with the government. He would plead guilty to one felony charge of conspiring to file false trading records, pay $US100 million in penalties and cooperate with federal authorities.

Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)

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