President Donald Trump has granted clemency to former junk bond king Michael Milken, who pleaded guilty to violating U.S. securities laws.
Milken, 73, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for crimes committed while heading the bond department at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert, and fined $600 million. His sentence was reduced
Milken, once considered Wall Street’s "junk bond king" was indicted in 1989 in an insider trading probe. After pleading guilty to securities violations, he paid $1.1 billion and served about two years in prison.
Since then he has headed up the non-profit Milken Institute, focusing on a wide span of research, including curing cancer, public health, aging, California and financial markets. Each year the titans of finance flock to the Milken Institute Global Conference, where fund managers and marketers woo prospective investors and philanthropies make pitches for funding.
"We have Mike Milken who's gone around and done an incredible job for the world with all of his research on cancer," Trump told reporters in Washington. "He paid a big price, paid a very tough price."
This report uses material from the AP and Reuters.
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