Steve Madden is the founder and former CEO of Steve Madden Ltd., a footwear

Footwear

Footwear consists of garments worn on the feet, for fashion, protection against the environment, and adornment. Being barefoot is commonly associated with poverty, but some cultures chose not to wear footwear at least in some situations....

 company.

Born in Far Rockaway, Queens

Far Rockaway, Queens

Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...

, Madden grew up in adjoining Lawrence

Lawrence, Nassau County, New York

Lawrence is a village in Nassau County, New York in the USA. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 6,483.The Village of Lawrence is in the southwest corner of the Town of Hempstead, adjoining the border with the New York City borough of Queens to the west and near the...

 in Nassau County, New York

Nassau County, New York

Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...

.

Steve Madden, Ltd. was named "Company of the Year" for 2006 at the Footwear News Achievement Awards in New York City on December 5, 2006. Madden said, in accepting the award, that he was going to use this award as a stepping off point for improving his company's image.

Fraud

Madden's financial affairs were closely entangled with Long Island 'pump and dump

Pump and dump

"Pump and dump" is a form of microcap stock fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price....

' brokerage Stratton Oakmont

Stratton Oakmont

Stratton Oakmont was a Long Island, New York, "pump and dump" boiler room brokerage house founded by Jordan Belfort, Danny Porush, COO Steven Carter and CFO Kenny Greene that was shut down in the late 1990s. Jordan Belfort wrote a book about it entitled The Wolf of Wall Street...

, cofounded by Madden's childhood friend Danny Porush. In 2001, the SEC filed charges against Madden in Federal Court in New York state, alleging SEC violations. http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr17015.htm Because the violations weren't criminal in nature, the SEC was seeking to recover $1,637,000 in a combination of illegally avoided losses, interest, and a civil penalty.

In 2002, Madden was convicted of stock

Stock

The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...

 manipulation, money, and securities fraud

Securities fraud

Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....

. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison, and was made to resign as CEO from Steve Madden Ltd and from the board of directors.

Shortly after resigning as CEO, Madden set himself up as a creative consultant with Steve Madden Ltd., a position for which he drew $700,000 even when he was in prison.http://www.slate.com/id/2064214

Madden served in a federal prison at Eglin Air Force Base

Federal Prison Camp, Eglin

Federal Prison Camp, Eglin was a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison on the grounds of Eglin Air Force Base.By 2006 the federal government decided to cut costs by closing Eglin and returning the buildings to the air force. The prisoners were moved to Federal Prison Camp,...

,and later Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, near Ocala FL. Madden was released from prison in April 2005. He then attended a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 halfway house

Halfway house

The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...

. Madden's attorney, Joel Winograd, said that Madden would stay at the house for 60 days. After his release from a halfway house, he was restricted to home confinement for a period.

He appears in Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort is an American author, motivational speaker and former white collar criminal who spent 22 months in jail for offences related to stock market manipulation and running a boiler room....

's memoir of the events, The Wolf of Wall Street.

He is currently married to Wendy Ballew, his former director of operations. The couple has two children.

Sources

• Ron Telpner, Marketing Magazine: "Ron's Red Shoe Diary". Toronto: Rogers Publishing, September 8, 2003.
• http://www.slate.com/?id=2064214
• Steve Madden: Crisis of the Sole 2001 New York article on Stratton Oakmont
  Stratton Oakmont
  Stratton Oakmont was a Long Island, New York, "pump and dump" boiler room brokerage house founded by Jordan Belfort, Danny Porush, COO Steven Carter and CFO Kenny Greene that was shut down in the late 1990s. Jordan Belfort wrote a book about it entitled The Wolf of Wall Street...
  
  and their client Steve Madden.