Border Group Names Milken ‘Man of the Decade’

Indicted junk bond king Michael Milken has been named “Man of the Decade” by the Mexican and American Foundation Inc., a spokesman for the border business group said Wednesday.

Milken was unanimously selected to receive the foundation’s top award of the 1980s by the board late last year, said Ron Valles.

The former Drexel Burnham Lambert executive, who faces trial this year on 98 felony counts of securities fraud and related charges, will receive the award at an annual foundation banquet Sept. 22 in San Diego.

In a letter to Milken notifying him of the award, foundation President Tony Valencia and two other foundation officials wrote: “The assistance you are giving to the goals that we represent are innumerable. Your quest to obtain capital to help finance the growth of minority businesses, who would not otherwise have those resources, is needed.

“Additionally, by encouraging investment in Mexico, you help develop trans-border commerce and civic relations between Mexico and the United States,” the letter said.

The letter informed Milken that Americans who received “Man of the Year” awards from the foundation during the 1980s included two California Republican congressmen, Sen. Pete Wilson and Rep. Duncan Hunter; Lodwrick M. Cook, chairman and chief executive of Arco, and Brian Dyson, president of Coca Cola USA.

Last June, Milken was honored at a foundation luncheon in Tijuana for his record of financing Hispanic businesses in the United States and for investing in Latin American export-oriented industries.

Milken received special permission from the Justice Department to attend the banquet. The 42-year-old junk bond wizard toured eight Mexican border maquiladora plants and later received the key to the city.

Foundation officials said then they were not dismayed by Milken’s legal difficulties in the United States. “As far as we’re concerned, he is innocent until proven guilty. That’s the American way,” said finance director Gil Fuentes.