Richard Sandler – The Prosecution of Michael Milken (EP.372)

Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert

Investing, Capitalallocation, Business

4.8 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2024

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A long time ago, 33 years to be exact, Mike Milken pled guilty to 6 counts of violations of securities laws, went to jail for 2 years, and received a lifetime ban from the securities industry.
He was at the time the most successful and powerful man on Wall Street and remains one of the smartest and most successful backers of talent in finance, cancer research and education.

Most of us have formed beliefs about Mike based on accounts in the media or books written like Den of Thieves. We might think Mike was guilty of insider trading, for example.

The way we form beliefs is problematic and rooted in survival from a time long past. We hear something and almost always immediately believe it is true. Danny Kahneman calls that System 1 thinking.

Here’s one example. We think Mike was guilty of insider trading. In fact, he was not. His plea of guilty did not touch insider trading.

And another, the Attorney who aggressively pursued Mike to bring him down and presumably catapult his own political ambitions was none other than Rudy Giuliani, himself indicted, arrested, and disbarred 30 years later.

Last week, Mike discussed how he emphasizes research and facts in his work. It is System 2 thinking - that requires us to think on our own without being infected by the beliefs of others.
So what really happened to cause us to have such negative views about a man who has done so much for the world?

My guest on today’s show tells a very different story based on facts from being in the room where it all happened.

Richard Sandler has been Mike Milken’s personal attorney since 1983, having joined Drexel three years before the U.S. Attorney first subpoenaed Mike. He wrote a book last year entitled Witness to a Prosecution – the Myth of Michael Milken that describes his account of what happened based on the facts.

Our conversation covers Richard’s perspective on the history, motivations, and proceedings that led to both Mike’s imprisonment and the public perception of him that formed as a result.

I encourage you to set aside any preconceived notions you have about Mike Milken in listening to this conversation.

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Capital Allocators is brought to you by Ten East, an investment platform for sophisticated investors to access private markets.
0:10.5	Ten East brings benefits of having your own family office without the cost and headaches of doing so.
0:16.8	It's founded and led by Michael LaFelle, former deputy executive managing member of Davidson Kempner.
0:24.2	Michael and his investment team offer members the opportunity to co-invest by offering at their
0:29.1	discretion. Michael and his team source, diligence, and commit material personal capital to each
0:35.3	investment. The opportunities shared on the Ten East platform
0:38.9	offer exposure to private credit, real estate, niche venture and private equity, and other
0:44.5	idiosyncratic investments that typically aren't available through traditional channels.
0:49.2	The principles have over a decade track record of investing in these types of exposures
0:53.5	across more than 350
0:55.7	transactions. Post-investment, the TENI's team conducts ongoing monitoring and reporting,
1:01.8	just as you'd expect from an institutional investment organization. I've known Michael for about a
1:07.0	decade, and after becoming impressed by the quality of 10 East offerings, its research
1:11.6	process, and high-quality investment team, I became an advisor to the organization, an investor
1:17.1	in multiple offerings. You can learn more and join me as a member at 10-east.com. That's the number 10,
1:25.4	east.co.O.
1:33.4	Capital Allocators is also brought to you by SRS Aquium.
1:37.2	Want to make sure your M&A processes aren't stuck in the past?
1:43.6	How about partnering with a company that's been defining the future of dealmaking for nearly two decades instead?
1:46.0	When it comes to M&A innovation,
1:52.7	SRS Aquium has reshaped the way deals get done more than anyone else, streamlining processes for maximum efficiency and minimum headaches. Professional shareholder representation, online
1:59.2	M&A payments, digital stockholder solicitation,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -382 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.