Milstein started his career at the investment bank Warburg Paribas Becker. Since 2004, he has run Emigrant Bank, and he serves as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of the bank's holding company, New York Private Bank & Trust.[3][4] In 2016, a Brooklyn jury found Emigrant Bank to have targeted minorities with predatory mortgages with rates of up to 18 percent.[5] While these loans are now illegal, Milstein testified at trial that the lending was a community service because it provided capital for people who could otherwise not afford it.[3] Between 2004 and 2009, the amount of delinquent loans at the bank had doubled from around 25% to 50%, with the highest commissions paid to employees who brought in subprime loans.[3]
He is chairman of Sarasota Private Bank & Trust and Cleveland Private Bank & Trust, both with majority ownership by Milstein and his family along with local co-founders.[6] Milstein is chairman of Milstein Properties, a builder and investor active in both residential and commercial development primarily in New York City.[7]
Milstein and his brother, Edward, worked with their father on numerous building projects in Manhattan. In the late 1980s, the Milstein family acquired Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives real estate brokerage,[8] and Milstein served as its chairman for ten years until the business was sold.[9] In 1986, Milstein started Liberty Cable as an alternative telecommunications supplier for the Milford Plaza Hotel.[10] In 2018, Milstein launched a technology campus in midtown for technology companies.[11]
In 2007, Milstein acquired, through Emigrant Bank, a full partnership interest in Nicklaus Companies, LLC, becoming executive chairman of the company, working with professional golfer Jack Nicklaus.[12] The business was primarily centered in golf course design, golf equipment, and licensing for clothing and other items.[citation needed] In 2018, Milstein formed 8AM Golf, the holding company for Nicklaus Companies, which operates various global golfing brands, including Golf Magazine and Golf.com.[13] On September 20, 2023, 8AM Golf announced a new golf-themed venture in collaboration with Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake to open a sports bar in Manhattan, New York.[14]
Civic
In November 2010, Milstein was selected by Andrew Cuomo to be on the incoming New York governor's transition team as a member of the Committee on Economic Development & Labor.[15] In June 2011, the New York State Senate unanimously confirmed Milstein as chair of the New York State Thruway Authority.[16]
Philanthropy
In 2012, Milstein and his wife, Abby, vice chairman of the New York Public Library, committed to donate $8 million to the New York Public Library.[17]
Personal life
He is married to Abby Sniderman Milstein, chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library.[18][19] They have one son, Michael, born in 1989.[20]
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