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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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1992-09-22
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THE WEEK, Page 24BUSINESSBusiness Ethics of the Rich and Famous?
The SEC charges seven highflyers with insider trading
Move over, Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. Federal
investigators have cracked open another huge insider-trading
scandal, and this time they have implicated some of the most
prominent names in America's social register. The Securities and
Exchange Commission accuses seven corporate leaders of raking
in at least $13 million in illegal profits from stock trading
based on inside information.
Among the luminaries charged were Martin Revson,
co-founder of the Revlon cosmetics empire, and Edward Downe Jr.,
a former director of the investment bank Bear Stearns and
husband of auto heiress Charlotte Ford. The SEC claims Downe
used his position at the Wall Street firm to cull confidential
information on companies and then used it to earn profits of
$3.3 million in stock trades. Revson allegedly netted $1.7
million from improper tips he received from Downe. Others
charged by the SEC are Steven Greenberg, a former public
relations executive, who allegedly pocketed $550,000 in illicit
profits; Thomas Warde, a real estate developer ($1 million);
David Salamone, a business partner of Downe's ($4 million); and
Milton Weinger, a stockbroker at Oppenheimer & Co. ($2.3
million). Fred Sullivan was charged only with passing sensitive
information to outsiders while on the board of Tyler, an
industrial-products manufacturer.
The investors gathered at parties in Southampton, N.Y.,
and on Downe's yacht in the Caribbean, where they allegedly
exchanged inside information. While most of the defendants have
denied any wrongdoing, two have come forward to settle some of
the charges. Sullivan has agreed to pay a penalty of $58,000
without denying or admitting his guilt. Downe has pleaded guilty
to two criminal counts and could face 10 years in prison. "It's
terrible," he said, "just awful to be in this situation."