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Michael Milken
Status
Born in 1946 (age –). Living in Los Angeles, California.
Criminal status: Convicted 1990 on 6 federal felony counts; served 22 months at Federal Prison Camp Pleasanton (released January 2, 1993); permanently barred from the securities industry; violated ban in 1998 (USD 47M civil settlement); pardoned by President Trump February 18, 2020
Summary
Michael Milken built his fortune running the high-yield bond division at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he pioneered financing structures that allowed companies with limited credit history to raise capital through high-yield debt. His operations generated enormous fees and shaped the leveraged buyout era of the 1980s.
Indicted in 1989 on 98 federal counts including racketeering, securities fraud, and insider trading, Milken was at the center of the largest securities enforcement case in U.S. history at the time. He pleaded guilty in April 1990 to six felony counts and served 22 months in federal prison.
After his 1993 release, Milken directed resources toward medical research and education philanthropy. He founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation in 1993 following his own prostate cancer diagnosis and co-founded the Milken Institute as a nonpartisan economic think tank.
His current net worth of $7.5 billion reflects decades of private investment activity. He has personally donated $500 million toward the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a Washington, D.C. museum project expected to cost $1 billion including outside funding.
Business Relationships
Ivan Boesky, a stock trader who operated in overlapping markets, was a documented co-conspirator in the securities fraud investigation. Boesky's cooperation with federal prosecutors contributed to the 1989 Milken indictment; both men were ultimately convicted of securities violations.
Leon Black was a senior colleague at Drexel Burnham Lambert who later co-founded Apollo Global Management. Black's departure from Drexel followed the firm's 1990 bankruptcy, which was precipitated in part by the Milken fraud investigation and the resulting USD 650 million civil settlement Drexel paid to regulators.
Ownership
Milken is permanently barred from associating with broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investment companies under the 1991 SEC consent order. He is permitted to manage his own personal investment portfolio, and his current net worth derives from private equity, hedge fund, and venture capital investments accumulated since his 1993 prison release.
Milken serves as chairman of the Milken Institute, a nonprofit he founded in 1991, and is a co-founder and primary funder of the Milken Family Foundation, which he co-founded with his brother Lowell Milken in 1982.
Family & Heirs
Milken is married to Lori Anne Milken. They have three children: Gregory, Lance, and Alexandra.
His brother Lowell Milken co-founded the Milken Family Foundation in 1982 and chairs the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, which grew out of the foundation's educator programs.
Evidence
1982-01-01 - 😇 - Co-founded Milken Family Foundation to support education and medical research; has since collaborated with 1,000+ organizations globally
1985-01-01 - 😇 - Founded Milken Educator Awards -- the largest teacher-recognition program in the US, distributing tens of millions of dollars to K-12 educators
1989-03-29 - 😈 - Indicted on 98 federal counts of racketeering, securities fraud, and insider trading -- landmark first RICO case against a non-organized crime financier
1990-04-24 - 😈 - Pleaded guilty to six felony counts of securities violations and tax fraud; sentenced to 10 years in prison with USD 600M criminal fine
1990-04-24 - 😇 - Publicly apologized in federal court while pleading guilty, saying his actions had "hurt those closest to me" and "I am truly sorry"
1993-01-01 - 😇 - Founded Prostate Cancer Foundation (originally CaP CURE) after personal prostate cancer diagnosis; now the world's largest private prostate cancer funder
1995-11-01 - 😇 - Hosted first Cancer Summit in 1995 and co-chaired 1998 March on Washington, contributing to Congress nearly doubling the NIH budget over five years
1998-02-26 - 😈 - Violated lifetime securities ban through MC Group brokerage activities; SEC lawsuit settled for USD 47 million in unauthorized fees
2003-01-01 - 😇 - Founded FasterCures as Milken Institute center to accelerate medical research and remove regulatory barriers against all life-threatening diseases
2013-02-27 - 😈 - SEC probed potential third violation of lifetime securities ban via undisclosed advisory role at Guggenheim Partners
2019-01-22 - 😈 - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flew on Milken's private plane while advocating for his pardon, prompting a CREW ethics investigation
Analysis
Milken's financial crimes were systemic and sweeping. The 98-count federal indictment documented a pattern of insider trading, stock manipulation, and fraud that caused investors over USD 1 billion in documented losses. His role in steering savings and loan institutions toward junk bonds contributed to contributing to more than USD 1 billion in FDIC payments to cover resulting losses.
His conduct after conviction reinforces the pattern. After serving 22 months, Milken secretly resumed securities advisory work through MC Group, generating USD 42 million in unauthorized fees on deals including the MCI-News Corporation transaction. The SEC characterized this as a continuation of the same disregard for legal boundaries that defined his career at Drexel.
Milken's philanthropic record is substantial and documented. The Prostate Cancer Foundation has funded research that contributed to cutting the prostate cancer death rate in half, and the Milken Educator Awards have distributed tens of millions of dollars recognizing teachers. His advocacy through FasterCures also helped secure passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016, which delivered billions in new federal biomedical research funding.
However, this philanthropy followed, rather than prevented, serious harm.
The pattern of using personal access to influence official decisions did not end with his conviction. In January 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flew from Washington to Los Angeles on Milken's private plane while separately advocating to President Trump for Milken's pardon, an arrangement the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said raised ethics questions even though Mnuchin reimbursed the flight cost.
Questions
What weight should documented post-conviction philanthropy carry when the original crimes caused over USD 1 billion in investor losses? Milken's philanthropy is genuine and has produced measurable medical and educational outcomes. At the same time, the harms from his junk bond fraud -- the S&L failures, the investor losses, the manipulation of capital markets -- were structural and affected thousands of people who had no part in the outcome.
Does Milken's violation of his securities ban after prison reveal something about the character of his philanthropic turn? He resumed illegal advisory activity quietly, building USD 42 million in fees before getting caught. The 2013 SEC probe into his Guggenheim role suggests the same dynamic may have recurred.
What does it mean that Milken's presidential pardon arrived after the Treasury Secretary personally flew on his plane while advocating for it? Most people convicted of federal felonies do not have that kind of direct access to the officials weighing their case for clemency.
Redemption Arc
At his 1990 guilty plea, Milken told the court he was "truly sorry" for actions that had "hurt those closest to me." He has pursued genuine and impactful philanthropic work since his 1993 release, with measurable contributions to cancer research, education, and medical innovation.
However, his documented 1998 violation of the same securities ban he agreed to as part of his conviction settlement complicates any straightforward narrative of rehabilitation. The SEC characterized that post-prison conduct as "continuing contempt for the law."
His 2020 presidential pardon restored his civil record, but it followed a lobbying campaign that included a sitting Treasury Secretary flying on his private plane -- a reminder that his access to power did not end with his conviction.