Boesky, Ivan

Boesky, Ivan (1937–  ) financier; born in Detroit, Mich. Son of a Russian immigrant milkman who became a restaurateur, he studied law and worked as a tax accountant before moving into securities analysis, forming his own firm in 1975. Credited with (or blamed for) pioneering the junk bond market (later a symbol of the excesses of the 1980s), he had become one of Wall Street's most successful arbitragers when he admitted to insider trading charges in 1986. Fined $100 million, he served time in prison before being given parole for good behavior in 1990, but by 1993 he was claiming to be penniless and was living off alimony from his ex-wife.