Boesky-Related Settlements Approved

A federal judge Monday gave final approval to seven class-action settlements that will pay $68.9 million to investors who say they were defrauded by Ivan Boesky and others involved in insider trading scandals of the 1980s.

U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack, who had previously given preliminary approval to the settlements, said the agreements are a fair and reasonable resolution of investor suits against Boesky; former Kidder, Peabody & Co. mergers chief Martin Siegel; former Goldman, Sachs & Co. arbitrage chief Robert Freeman; and others.

Pollack approved the plan of distribution after a hearing in New York.

The settlements include $20.1 million from the defendants and $48.7 million that the defendants previously agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission as restitution to investors, said Stanley Nemser, an attorney for the investors.

The investors say they lost money as Boesky, Siegel and Freeman manipulated the prices of the investors’ stocks by colluding with Michael Milken, the head bond trader at now-defunct Drexel, Burnham Lambert & Co.

The investors are receiving money from separate settlements with Drexel, Milken and other related parties. Including the settlements approved Monday, the investors will receive a total of $260.5 million from all Boesky-related litigation, Nemser said.

Boesky served three years in prison for securities law convictions.

Siegel served two months and Freeman served four months.

Milken served two years and is still on probation while the SEC investigates his financial consulting work since his release from prison.