Gordon Gekko aka Ivan Boesky is dead.

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SunTrader

(AXIOS)

Ivan Boesky, 1937—2024
By Felix Salmon

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Ivan Boesky, in his natural habitat. Photo: Yves Gellie/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images


Ivan Boesky, arguably the most iconic antihero Wall Street has ever produced, died Monday at the age of 87.

They don't make 'em like they used to. This is probably a good thing, given Boesky's conviction for insider trading.

The big picture: Boesky was the kind of criminal who craved the limelight.

  • The day before he surrendered to federal authorities, he descended via helicopter to a friend's son's cruise ship bar mitzvah, wearing a tuxedo and "looking like a latter-day James Bond," per the NYT's obit.
  • He embossed the carpets in his Westchester County, New York, mansion with his initials, IFB; was driven around town in a pink Rolls-Royce; and had a habit of ordering every dish on the menu at fancy restaurants, leaving most of the plates untouched. (He consumed much more coffee than food.)
The backstory: Boesky grew up in working-class Detroit and dropped out of Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Michigan, and Eastern Michigan University before turning the last of his father's chain of bars into Le Club a-Go-Go. Two years later, it went bankrupt.

  • Boesky first became rich by marrying real estate heiress Seema Silberstein, whose parents bought him a Park Avenue apartment and seeded his investment fund with $700,000.
  • Boesky took 40% of all the fund's gains, but only 10% of any losses.
The bottom line: Boesky's insider trading landed him a three-year prison sentence; he ended up serving 18 months.

  • Upon his release, his wife filed for divorce; in the settlement, he received $20 million from her, plus a $2.5 million home in California and an annual income of $180,000.
 
I have fond (j/k) memories of IBoe, he "saved" me from getting hired by Drexel Burnham, by help collapsing it before I got me foot in the door there.

Another save I had was getting turned down for a position, with Port Authority, up near top in WTC II.
Woo boy.
 
EdgeHunter said:
""Gordon Gekko aka Ivan Boesky is dead""

It's Always A Bitch... When God Stops You Out...
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Similarly I was thinking of the two "Grumpy Old Men" we have as a choice in Nov, no matter who wins, both at some point will hit their ultimate term limit.
 
I'm pretty sure Gekko was an amalgam of Ivan Boesky & Carl Icahn. Really, Gekko was a serial dealmaker so he was more like Icahn. I'm pretty sure Bluestar Airlines was a metaphor for the TWA disaster that Icahn was involved in.

Boesky's actions are covered in Den Of Thieves (James B. Stewart) & The Predators' Ball (Connie Bruck). Both good books about the criminal activity surrounding Milken & The Drexel Beverly Hills mafia.
 
nitrene said:
I'm pretty sure Gekko was an amalgam of Ivan Boesky & Carl Icahn. Really, Gekko was a serial dealmaker so he was more like Icahn. I'm pretty sure Bluestar Airlines was a metaphor for the TWA disaster that Icahn was involved in.

Boesky's actions are covered in Den Of Thieves (James B. Stewart) & The Predators' Ball (Connie Bruck). Both good books about the criminal activity surrounding Milken & The Drexel Beverly Hills mafia.
More...

I read the wiki on Boesky. He’s a naricistic failure who could only make money through insider trading.

unlike Milken who at least revolutionized how Wall Street looked at risk and spawned a whole investment strategy.
 
"had a habit of ordering every dish on the menu at fancy restaurants, leaving most of the plates untouched". What an asshole.

I can't remember the last time I read about a "flamboyant" guy that was an actual success.
 
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