(born 1937) Ivan Boesky’s arrest signaled the end of the high-flying merger and buyout industry of the 1980s. As an arbitrageur, he sought to profit by speculating in the stock of takeover targets. As the author of a bestselling book, Merger Mania (1985), Boesky became a symbol of a booming industry. In 1985 he began accepting non-public, insider information which he used to make tremendous profits. Once caught, Boesky’s cooperation with authorities led to the fall of junk-bond king Michael Milken and other prominent securities operators. The scandal left Wall Street’s reputation permanently scarred.