Dennis Levine
| Dennis Levine | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 1952 (age 64) Bayside, Queens, New York |
| Occupation | Investment banker |
| Criminal charge | Securities fraud (insider trading), tax evasion, perjury |
| Criminal penalty | Two years in federal prison, $362,000 fine, $11.5 million disgorgement, lifetime ban from securities industry |
| Criminal status | Released in 1988 |
| Conviction(s) | June 5, 1986 (pleaded guilty) |
Dennis B. Levine (born August 1952) was a prominent player in merger and acquisition business and the Wall Street insider trading scandals of the mid-1980s. As a managing director at Drexel Burnham Lambert, he was at the center of the frenetic 1980s merger and acquisition boom. His career on Wall Street ended with his indictment for insider trading, making him one of the first of several high-profile insider trading defendants indicted and convicted by U. S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Levine grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in Bayside in eastern Queens. He graduated from CUNY's Baruch College, obtaining an MBA from the same school in 1976.
After a brief stint at Citibank, he joined Smith Barney in 1978, moving to Lehman Brothers in 1981. Shortly after Lehman was bought by American Express in 1985, he moved to Drexel as a managing director.
Levine spent most of his career as a specialist in mergers and acquisitions. He soon became a major player in the M&A field, and played key role in two of the more notable hostile takeovers of the 1980s—James Goldsmith's takeover of Crown Zellerbach and Ron Perelman's takeover of Revlon. It was very common to see him on a telephone with an extra-long cord while hunched over a Quotron, checking out signs of possible deals.
After completing his sentence Levine returned to the finance world as president of ADASAR Group, a financial consulting firm. Over the last 25+ years, Levine has reemerged as a global strategist for innovative technology trends, most recently focusing on controlled environment agriculture and sustainability, including food, water and energy systems. He also lectures throughout the world at universities and organizations on a host of contemporary issues from business ethics to emerging technology developments.
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