Ivan F. Boesky, the flamboyant stock trader whose cooperation with the government cracked open one of the largest insider trading scandals in the history of Wall Street, has died at the age of 87.

A representative at the Marianne Boesky Gallery, owned by Ivan Boesky害羞草研究所檚 daughter, confirmed his death. No other details were given.

The son of a Detroit delicatessen owner, Boesky was once considered one of the richest and most influential risk-takers on Wall Street. He had parlayed $700,000 from his late mother-in-law害羞草研究所檚 estate into a fortune estimated at more than $200 million, hurtling him into the ranks of Forbes magazine害羞草研究所檚 list of the 400 richest Americans.

Once implicated in insider trading, Boesky cooperated with a brash young U.S. attorney named Rudolph Giuliani in a bid for leniency, uncovering a scandal that shattered promising careers, blemished some of the most respected U.S. investment brokerages and injected a certain paranoia into the securities industry.

Working undercover, Boesky secretly taped three conversations with Michael Milken, the so-called 害羞草研究所渏unk bond king害羞草研究所� whose work with Drexel Burnham Lambert had revolutionized the credit markets. Milken eventually pleaded guilty to six felonies and served 22 months in prison, while Boesky paid a $100 million fine and spent 20 months in a minimum-security California prison nicknamed 害羞草研究所淐lub Fed,害羞草研究所� beginning in March 1988.

After Boesky害羞草研究所檚 arrest, accounts circulated widely that he had had told business students during a commencement address at the University of California at Berkeley in 1985 or 1986, 害羞草研究所淕reed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.害羞草研究所�

The line was memorably echoed by Michael Douglas in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Gordon Gekko, a high-flying trader, in Oliver Stone害羞草研究所檚 1987 film 害羞草研究所淲all Street.害羞草研究所�

害羞草研究所淭he point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good,害羞草研究所� Douglas tells the shareholders of Teldar Paper. 害羞草研究所淕reed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.害羞草研究所�

Boesky, however, said he couldn害羞草研究所檛 remember saying 害羞草研究所済reed is healthy害羞草研究所� and denied another quotation attributed to him in the 1984 Atlantic Monthly, in which he allegedly said that climbing to the height of a huge pile of silver dollars would be 害羞草研究所渁n aphrodisiac experience.害羞草研究所�

While he usually worked 18-hour days, the silver-haired and lean Boesky also lived a life of opulence. He wore designer clothes, traveled in limousines, private airplanes and helicopters and revamped his 10,000-square-foot Westchester County mansion with a Jeffersonian dome to resemble Monticello.

害羞草研究所淭here was a very substantial amount of materiality available,害羞草研究所� Boesky said during his 1993 divorce proceedings. 害羞草研究所淲e had places in Palm Beach, Paris, New York, the south of France.害羞草研究所�

Boesky was an arbitrageur, a risk-taker who made millions by betting on stocks thought to be the target of corporate takeovers. But some of his tips came from within the mergers and acquisitions departments of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Dennis Levine of Drexel and Martin Siegal of Kidder, Peabody fed Boesky confidential information in return for promised cut of profits of either 1% or 5%.

Boesky paid Siegal $700,000 in three installments, with a courier delivering briefcases full of cash at three clandestine meeting on a street corner and in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Boesky had made millions on Siegal害羞草研究所檚 tips, which included word that Getty Oil and Carnation Co. were ripe for takeovers.

Levine was arrested before his payout could come, tripped up by his own insider trading. Facing harsh penalties under the government害羞草研究所檚 racketeering statutes, Levine revealed everything and Boesky began talking as well, providing information leading to convictions or guilty pleas in cases involving former stockbroker Boyd Jefferies, Siegel, four executives of Britian害羞草研究所檚 Guiness PLC, takeover strategist Paul Bilzerian, stock speculator Salim Lewis and others.

The most notable arrest was of Milken, the pioneering financier who had transformed capital markets in the 1970s with a new form of bond that allowed thousands of mid-sized companies to raise money.

In the 1980s those 害羞草研究所渏unk害羞草研究所� bonds were used to finance thousands of leveraged buyouts, including Revlon, Beatrice Companies, RJR Nabisco Inc. and Federated Department Stores, making Milken a hated and feared figure on Wall Street.

The financier and philanthropist was indicted on 98 counts, including securities and mail fraud, insider trading, racketeering and making false statements. Prosecutors said Milken and Boesky conspired together to manipulate securities prices, rig transactions and evade taxes and regulatory requirements.

Milken eventually pleaded guilty to six securities violations, including telling Boesky he害羞草研究所檇 cover any losses he suffered trading the stock of Fischbach Corp., a takeover target at the time.

Prosecutors said Boesky害羞草研究所檚 cooperation provided the government with the most information about securities law violations since the legislative hearings that led to the 1933 and 1934 Securities Acts.

When John Mulheren Jr. feared he was about to be implicated, the Wall Street executive loaded an assault rifle with the intent of killing Boesky and Boesky害羞草研究所檚 former head trader, police said. Mulheren was captured en route.

At trial, Mulheren害羞草研究所檚 attorney, Thomas Puccio, called Boesky a repeat liar and 害羞草研究所減ile of human garbage害羞草研究所� who was motivated to say anything to assist federal authorities in exchange for leniency.

害羞草研究所淚f there ever was a person to whom the title Prince of Darkness could be applied, Ivan Boesky is that man,害羞草研究所� Puccio said. 害羞草研究所淭he king of greed, a person who stood for nothing except his own ambition, his own greed.害羞草研究所�

The jury convicted Mulheren, but his conviction was later overturned. Other convictions were reversed as well 害羞草研究所� those of GAF Corp. and a senior executive, five principals of Princeton-Newport Partners and that of a former Drexel trader.

The reversals bolstered the arguments of free-traders who argued that Wall Street had been victimized by a publicity-seeking federal prosecutor using racketeering statutes usually reserved to combat organized crime. The government had previously done little to police insider trading, and some said it should be legalized.

But no one could defend payoffs involving suitcases full of cash. Levine, writing in the pages of Fortune after his release, said he couldn害羞草研究所檛 understand why Boesky would risk so much by engaging in something so clearly illegal.

害羞草研究所淎nd I don害羞草研究所檛 know why Ivan engaged in illegal activities when he had a fortune estimated at over $200 million,害羞草研究所� Levine wrote in 1990. 害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 sure he derived much of his wealth from legitimate enterprise: He was skilled at arbitrage and obsessed with his work. He must have been driven by something beyond rational behavior.害羞草研究所�

At his 1987 sentencing Boesky害羞草研究所檚 lawyer quoted his psychiatrist as saying Boesky 害羞草研究所渉as begun to recognize that he suffered from an abnormal and compulsive need to prove himself, to overcome some sense of inadequacy or inferiority that is rooted in his childhood.害羞草研究所�

Three years after his release from a Brooklyn halfway house in April 1990, Boesky and his wife Seema divorced after 30 years of marriage.

Claiming he had been left penniless after paying fines, restitution and legal fees, he won $20 million in cash and $180,000 a year in alimony from his wife害羞草研究所檚 $100 million fortune. He also got a $2.5 million home in the La Jolla section of San Diego, where he lived with his boyhood friend, Houshang Wekili.

Ivan Frederick Boesky was born in Detroit in 1937 into a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. Boesky said he learned industriousness from his father, who operated three delicatessens. At the age of 13 Boesky bought a 1937 Chevy truck, painted it white and sold ice cream from it in Detroit parks, making about $150 a week in nickels and dimes.

A three-time college dropout, Boesky entered the Detroit College of Law in 1959, which then did not require an undergraduate degree for admission. He withdrew twice before receiving his degree five years later.

While in law school Boesky married Seema Silberstein, the daughter of Ben Silberstein, a real estate developer and the owner of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Unable to find employment with any major Detroit law firm, Boesky moved in 1966 with his wife and the first of their four children to New York, where he floated from job to job on Wall Street.

In 1975 Boesky struck out on his own, opening small brokerage that he eventually parlayed into a sprawling group of investment companies with more than 100 employees. He worked grueling hours, gave self-promoting newspapers interviews and wrote a 1985 book entitled 害羞草研究所淢erger Mania.害羞草研究所�

He was also an active philanthropist, especially with Jewish causes, giving $20 million to endow a library at the Jewish Theological Seminary that was later renamed.

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