Drexel Burnham Lambert

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Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was a Bulge Bracket bank, as the fifth-largest investment bank in the United States. The firm had its most profitable fiscal year in 1986, netting $545.5 million, which represented the most profitable year ever for a Wall Street firm at the time, equivalent to $1.32 billion in 2024. Milken, who was Drexel's head of high-yield securities, was paid $295 million, the highest salary that an employee in the modern history of the world had ever received. Even so, Milken deemed his salary to be insufficient for his contributions to the bank, and received $550 million the next fiscal year. Drexel steered numerous large corporate takeovers during the 1980s. However, Drexel's excessive ambition caused the firm to veer into criminal behavior. Eventually, it abused the junk bond market and became involved in insider trading. In February 1990, Drexel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid being seized by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was the first Wall Street firm to be forced into bankruptcy since the Great Depression.