I once had to drive home a dog that lived in the largest private home in the country. Going down the driveway I spotted what looked like a villa up on a hill. Next time dog came in I asked the driver what was that building, the garage!! Was over 4 million to build owner loved sports cars.
I worked on a pier of a Casino owner ~ we accessed the property through a new construction~ a mansion being built for Michael Milken, the junk bond guy, it had a full size elevator~we could walk down the heating vents two abreast~big so they would be quiet~ he was fined for stealing all that money~but was allowed to keep it```interesting```
In the process, Milken, an Encino native, turned Los Angeles into the center of the junk bond world when he moved Drexel’s high-yield bond practice to Century City and later Beverly Hills.
In 1989, federal prosecutors led by then-U.S. Atty. Rudolph W. Giuliani brought 98 felony charges against Milken, including racketeering, insider trading and securities fraud.
The following year, Milken pleaded guilty, but only to six minor counts related to securities reporting violations. The plea, part of a deal that also ended a federal case against Milken’s brother and colleague, Lowell, led to a lifetime ban from the securities industry and a 10-year prison sentence. Milken served 22 months.
For years, financiers and Milken supporters have argued the junk-bond pioneer was targeted by prosecutors because of his immense success — he reportedly earned $550 million in 1987 alone — and because Drexel Burnham Lambert was, at the time, a symbol of Wall Street greed. They also say Milken only pleaded guilty to spare his brother.
Would you do 22 months for $550 million```person could live on that~if they tightened their belt```