Michael Milken
Michael Robert Milken is an American financier and philanthropist. He is noted 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 U.S. securities laws.
- Mike Milken joined what became investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1969 and expanded the market for high-yield junk bonds.
- He was banned from the securities industry for life after pleading guilty to a securities fraud charge in 1990.
- Milken now chairs the Milken Institute think tank, which produces the annual Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles, the Davos of the West Coast.
- Milken has investments in private equity, hedge funds, venture capital and more than one asset management firm.
- Milken pledged $10 million to George Washington U in 2014 to fund public health programs. Its school of public health bears the Milken Institute name.
