Boesky’s Blues : Ex-Speculator Seeks $1 Million in Alimony

It may be the ‘90s, but Ivan F. Boesky--the showy speculator whose “greed is good” credo came to symbolize ‘80s excess--has not lost his taste for the good life.

In divorce proceedings, Boesky is seeking $1 million a year in temporary alimony from his wife, Seema. The Boeskys declined comment, but a source familiar with the case confirmed the alimony request, which was reported Monday in the New York Post.

In confidential court papers filed in the case, Boesky said his plea for help was “embarrassing and painful.” Boesky, who divides his time among Aspen, La Jolla, Paris and the French Riviera, added that he was “humbled to come before this court” to ask for “interim financial support.”

The Boeskys have been estranged since before March, 1988, when the financier began a 20-month term in prison for insider trading. Boesky, who paid $100 million in fines and secretly tape recorded imprisoned junk-bond king Michael Milken in order to settle the government’s charges, insisted last year that he had been “virtually wiped out” by the government prosecution.

The 55-year-old Boesky argued in the divorce filing that “I should not be forced . . . to incur further debt while (Seema) redecorates the marital estate and her penthouse apartment . . . and has personal expenses of almost $42,000 a month,” the Post reported. The Boeskys’ properties include a 17-room mansion in Westchester and a Park Avenue penthouse in Manhattan.

“Seema and her family bankrolled Ivan during his early years on Wall Street,” said a source familiar with Boesky’s finances. “To have him come back to her now is ironic, to say the least.”

In his filing, Boesky expressed worry that his “current financial position may be of interest to gossip columnists and others” and asked that “every effort be made to by all parties concerned to maintain the confidentiality of these papers.”

Boesky’s $20,000-a-week alimony request, which is being contested by his wife, is pending before New York State Supreme Court Judge Phyllis Gangel-Jacob.