Ivan Boesky

Born March 6, 1937 (Detroit, Michigan)

Wall Street financier, white-collar criminal

Ivan Boesky worked in the fast-paced, high stakes world of Wall Street investing during the suddenly lucrative years of the 1980s. He was a financier who built a highly successful business by trading stock in companies experiencing financial difficulties. Boesky, however, became involved in a financial scam using "insider trading" (buying and selling stocks based on information not available to the general public), amounting to billions of dollars. Boesky was caught and put on trial, and the country was shocked by the extent of stock related thefts revealed during the government's investigation of Boesky and other financiers. For his crimes in the insider trading scandal Boesky paid fines, served prison time, and was banned from the securities (stocks and bonds) industry for life.