Known as ‘Ivan The Terrible’, the risk arbitrage maven fell from glory in one of the biggest insider trading scandals of the 1980s
Ivan Boesky, the financier who gave birth to the “greed is good” mantra before going to prison in one of the biggest Wall Street insider trading scandals of the 1980s, has died at the age of 87, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Boesky, who partly inspired the Gordon Gekko character in the 1987 movie Wall Street, was considered a genius at risk arbitrage – the business of speculating in takeover stocks – and his wealth was estimated at $280m.
“I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself,” he said in a commencement speech to the University of California, Berkeley business school in 1986.
Just a few months later, the man known on Wall Street as “Ivan the Terrible” was indicted on charges that would send him to disgrace, near-bankruptcy and prison.
Boesky became a legend by committing vast sums to potential merger deals, trying to take advantage of the small but predictable gains that follow takeover rumors.
Often, the news that Boesky was investing in a company was enough to prompt other speculators to enter the market, creating a self-fulfilling rise in the stock’s price.
All along, Boesky insisted he bought stocks only after formal takeover bids were announced. But the Securities and Exchange Commission proved he obtained tips from investment bankers about deals in the works and used them illegally before they were released to the public.
