Taking It All Back, Plus Interest

The U.S. wants billions from the king of junk bonds

The indictment was long anticipated, but the size of the proposed penalties was enough to provoke a collective gasp among Wall Streeters. Last week a federal grand jury in Manhattan charged junk-bond king Michael Milken, 42, his brother Lowell, 40, and Bruce Lee Newberg, 31, a former colleague of theirs at the investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, with a total of 98 felony counts of stock manipulation, insider trading, racketeering and other crimes. The indictment calls for the three accused to forfeit their total compensation of $1.5 billion for 1984 through 1987 (plus interest of $257 million) and pay fines of...

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