Ivan Boesky, convict in 1980s insider trading scandal, dies at 87

Colourful character: Boesky (centre), leaves the New York federal court on April 24, 1987 after pleading guilty to one count of violating federal securities laws. The flamboyant stock speculator died yesterday at the age of 87. — AP

NEW YORK: Ivan Boesky, the financier who gave birth to the “greed is good” mantra before going to prison in one of the biggest Wall Street insider trading scandals of the 1980s, has died at the age of 87, the New York Times reports.

Boesky, who partly inspired the Gordon Gekko character in the 1987 movie “Wall Street,” was considered a genius at risk arbitrage - the business of speculating in takeover stocks, and his wealth was estimated at US$280mil.