Opinion
Sandler: Wall Street establishment targeted Milken after Drexel enabled hostile takeovers
“So Mike was an attractive target because he really wasn't liked by a lot of people in the business round table and in the established firms. He was getting a lot of publicity. He was very successful. And so people complained to the SEC, they complained to Cong…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandler: Prosecutors threatened to destroy Princeton Newport unless it aided Milken prosecution
“The prosecutors at the time had told the principals and the lawyers for Princeton Newport that they're going to run over them. They're going to destroy them unless they help them against Michael Milken and another Case that was under investigation at the time,…”
Assertion Partly supported
Sandler: Milken pled to violations never previously criminally prosecuted
“We actually found things to plead to, none of which had ever been subject to criminal prosecution before, many of which hadn't probably even been enforced as regulatory violations before, but we found things that he could admit to.”
Assertion Contradicted
Sandler: Judge assessed market damage from Michael Milken's violations at zero
“Interesting enough, when the judge assessed the economic damage to the marketplace from everything Michael pled to, included on the three counts that related to Bosque, that the total economic effect of these violations was zero. Not one penny was lost.”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Drexel collapsed after funding unsold inventory with commercial paper
“What had happened is, to prove they could still get deals done, they were taking a lot of securities that they couldn't sell into inventory, and they were financing it by issuing commercial paper in the commercial paper market. So in financial parlance, they w…”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Milken received a 10-year sentence via consecutive two-year terms
“And she gave him a ten-year sentence, which number one, negated what we thought was a cap of five years. Because she gave him two years on five counts to Z serve consecutively, not concurrently.”
Assertion Contradicted
Sandler: Milken's sentencing judge told parole commission no further wrongdoing was proven
“The judge who sentenced Mike, who held the Fatico hearing, wrote a letter to the parole commission on Mike's behalf, indicating that she held the Fatico hearing, and she did not believe that any further wrongdoing other than what he pled to could be shown, eve…”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Michael Milken did not go to prison for insider trading or bond fraud
“And then as time passed, and some of the same lies kept getting repeated, you went to jail for insider trading, or you went to jail for fraud in the bond, none of which is true.”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Ivan Boesky did very little trading with Drexel Burnham Lambert
“Ivan Boski was probably the most revered and respected risk arbitrageur on Wall Street. He had accounts with every firm. In fact, he did very little trading with Drexel. He was probably the largest equity buyer of securities of stocks at the time for any firm …”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Non-investment-grade original debt issuance was unheard of before Michael Milken
“The idea of a new issue of a high-yield security, our new issue of debt security for a company that Could not get an investment grade was unheard of when Mike came to the market.”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Princeton Newport collapsed before trial under RICO before winning on appeal
“The firm was out of business before the first witness was called in the trial, because under RICO, you could create a freezing of assets, and as a financial institution, that's very, very difficult. So, even though Princeton Newport case was reversed on appeal…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandler: James Stewart never questioned him on claims made in 'Den of Thieves'
“He met with me twice. Never asked me one question about things he said about me in the book, some of which are not true.”
Insight
Sandler: Targets of federal criminal investigations have virtually no discovery rights
“You have really no rights as a person under investigation. You don't have a right to ask them questions. When they subpoena documents, you don't get a copy of the subpoenas documents they get from other people. They subpoena people to appear in front of grand …”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Michael Milken was charged with 98 counts across 12 transactions
“I think there were 12 transactions in the indictment. 98 counts.”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Drexel settled federal charges for $650 million in penalties and disgorgement
“They paid a very large fine. I think they paid six hundred and fifty million dollars out. Part of that went as a criminal penalty, and part of that went to as an SEC disgorgement fund, because they settled with both the SEC and the U.S. Attorney”
Assertion Supported
Sandler: Milken moved his entire Drexel department from New York to LA in 1978
“Mike had moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1978, and moved his whole department with him.”
