Stock trader Ivan Boesky, who served prison time in connection of an insider trading scandal and was part of the inspiration for the Oliver Stone movie "Wall Street," has died. He was 87.
Boesky cooperated with a government investigation that exposed one of the largest insider trading scandals in the history of Wall Street.
He had been considered one of the richest and most influential risk-takers on Wall Street.
Once implicated in insider trading, Boesky secretly taped three conversations with Michael Milken, the so-called "junk bond king" whose work with Drexel Burnham Lambert had revolutionized the credit markets, the Associated Press reported.
Milken eventually pleaded guilty to six felonies and served 22 months in prison.
Boesky paid a $100 million fine and spent 20 months in a minimum-security prison.
He was credited with saying, "Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself."
A similar line was used by Michael Douglas in his portrayal of Gordon Gekko on the silver screen.
"The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good," Douglas said in the film.
Boesky later said he couldn't remember saying "greed is healthy."
