Milken Agrees to Extension of Probation

Former junk-bond financier Michael Milken has agreed to a six-month extension of his probation while federal investigators examine his recent business activities, a Milken lawyer said Tuesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been investigating whether Milken complied with a 1990 settlement barring him from the securities industry permanently.

Milken attorney Richard M. Phillips said Milken, the former head of junk bonds at the now-defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., will remain on probation until Oct. 25 while he cooperates with SEC investigators. His probation was due to expire April 25 after four previous extensions.

“We don’t think [the investigators] have a case,” Phillips said.

Both the U.S. Attorney’s office and the SEC declined to comment on Milken’s agreement, which was first reported in Tuesday’s New York Times.

Milken, who lives in Encino, pleaded guilty in 1990 to six counts of securities fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison and fined more than $1 billion. His probation began upon his release from prison in 1993.

Investigators have been looking at Milken’s post-prison work for media executives Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch and financier Ronald Perelman. Milken has said he performed consulting services for them rather than securities-related work. He has suspended those jobs until the SEC makes a determination about their legality.