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Will justice be served by the proposed penalty? According to Astrachan, "Michael Milken has been chewed up and spit out by the Government. It's disgusting the way that a guy who should be held in high esteem has been made out to be a scapegoat." But James Kuhn, a professor of ethics at Columbia Business School, argued that the settlement "punctuates the end of an era of greed, excess and money madness." Added Kuhn: "It's astounding that someone so bright would cross the line. You can now point to Milken as an example of what happens when you break the law." In his fall, the most powerful financier of the 1980s remains one of the decade's most poignant symbols.