The WSJ runs a commentary about Michael Milken by the paper's Dorothy Rabinowitz under the headline "UNPARDONED." In it we are told that seven members of Milken's family have died of cancer, that (according to a quoted Milken "associate") the SEC mounted much more of an attack against Milken's pardon attempt than the FBI put up against a man convicted of murdering two of its agents, that Milken was sent to a "desolate" federal prison camp, that there "he washed a lot more floors and windows than most other prisoners of his education," that he has been teaching inner-city children "since his youth," that he lives in a "comparatively modest house" in the San Fernando Valley, which is "decidedly not a neighborhood in which the very rich live," and that he works 15 hours a day happily. All this and more we learn. Now as to what Milken ever did to get in trouble in the first place? Well, promisingly, the story starts off with Milken at Yale delivering a lecture when a young woman in the audience asks him precisely that. But Milken replies--and Rabinowitz settles for--"That was a story for another day."
[BTW, the Jan. 22 New Yorker has a piece by James B. Stewart reporting on Milken's educational philanthropy as a cover for renewed dealmaking. Notes Stewart: "... [the] written record of the government's investigation provides a portrait of Milken's activities from 1993, when he was released from prison, until 1996, when he again came under scrutiny. It is sharply at odds with Milken's image as someone engaged alomost exclusively in charitable endeavors, for during that period he earned some ninety-two million dollars for 'facilitating' deals. ... The picture that emerges of Milken's influence in the business world would be remarkable even if he weren't a convicted felon. That he was still on probation makes it even more puzzling. Why would Milken even think of pursuing activities that might raise questions of legality and put him at risk of returning to jail? ('The Predators' Ball is now the Educators' Ball,' a government lawyer told me.)"]
Carl
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