Judge OKs Final Milken Settlement Payout

In a move that ends the global civil litigation against Michael Milken stemming from his 1980s junk bond empire days, a federal judge approved a plan to distribute $1 million remaining from a historic $1.3-billion settlement fund. Approval of the payout plan comes as Milken waits to hear whether President Clinton will pardon the former financier for securities-related crimes to which he pleaded guilty in 1990. Separate from the criminal case, Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert, the now defunct investment banking firm where Milken headed the junk bond department, and top executives at the firm, agreed to pay $1.3 billion to settle a range of civil securities related suits against them. U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack approved the global settlement in March 1992. The deal was designed to settle more than 150 lawsuits against Milken and other former Drexel employees. More than eight years later, Pollack approved a plan for the allocation of the remaining funds. The judge signed an order approving distribution of $1,039,000 to about 1,800 former Drexel Burnham employees for losses on stock in the defunct Wall Street firm. The funds will go to those who acquired shares between 1984 and 1988.