Ivan Boesky, who partly inspired the Gordon Gekko character in the movie Wall Street, has died at the age of 87.

The former financier was a central figure in insider trading scandals of the 1980s.

At his peak, he was considered a genius at risk arbitrage, the business of speculating in takeover stocks, and his wealth was estimated at $280m (£220m).

However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proved he had obtained tips from investment bankers about deals in the works and used them illegally before the information was released to the public.

He went on to co-operate with a brash young attorney named Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Giuliani in a bid for leniency as part of the government’s investigation into insider trading rings.

Working undercover, Boesky secretly taped three conversations with Michael Milken, the so-called “junk bond king”.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Milken eventually pleaded guilty to six felonies and served 22 months in prison, while Boesky paid a $100m fine and spent 20 months in a minimum-security California prison nicknamed “Club Fed”.

After Boesky’s arrest, accounts circulated widely that he had told business students at the University of California at Berkeley in 1985 or 1986 that “greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself”.

Read more from Sky News
P Diddy reacts to video of him assaulting Cassie
Portal connecting Dublin and New York ‘reawakens’
Boardwalk Empire star dies

The line was memorably echoed by Michael Douglas in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Gordon Gekko, a high-flying trader, in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street.

Boesky, however, said he could not remember saying “greed is healthy”.

While he usually worked 18-hour days, the silver-haired and lean Boesky also lived a life of opulence.

He wore designer clothes, travelled in limousines, private jets and helicopters and revamped his Westchester County mansion with a Jeffersonian dome to resemble the former president’s Monticello residence.

Three years after his release from a Brooklyn halfway house in April 1990, Boesky and his wife Seema divorced after 30 years of marriage.

Claiming he had been left penniless after paying fines, restitution and legal fees, he won $20m in cash and $180,000 a year in alimony from his wife’s $100m fortune.

He also got a $2.5m home in the La Jolla section of San Diego, where he lived with his boyhood friend Houshang Wekili.

Related posts:

Fed jolts market as it signals US rate hike could come ‘somewhat sooner’ Around 2,000 evacuate as huge Oregon wildfire torches area larger than New York City ‘Congratulations fellas!’: Biden makes video call to Ireland rugby team after All Blacks win Man who chased black jogger before killing him sentenced to life for federal hate crime Biden and Netanyahu in icy exchange over Israel’s controversial judicial reforms US and South Korea staging biggest military drills for years as North ramps up tensions Baby Shark bath toy recalled after reports children wounded from falling on them Titan sub investigators ‘taking precautions’ in case bodies found on sea floor Woman found guilty of murder after poisoning friend with eye drops China’s president signals more pandas could be sent to US Man arrested over death of pro-Israel demonstrator in California Georgia judge dismisses three criminal counts against Donald Trump