Sarina Russo hobnobs in USA with Michael Milken, one of the most notorious US white collar criminals from the 1980s

SARINA Russo has been rubbing shoulders in Los Angeles with one of the most notorious US white collar criminals from the go-go 1980s.

Jobs queen Sarina Russo has been at the 21st annual Milken Institute Global Conference in the US.

RUBBING SHOULDERS

SARINA Russo has been rubbing shoulders in Los Angeles with one of the most notorious US white collar criminals from the go-go 1980s.

The Brisbane jobs queen and her pal, development sector player Lynne Pask, have rocked up to the 21st annual Milken Institute Global Conference, which attracts more than 4000 attendees over four days.

If the name Milken rings a bell, it should.

Michael Milken rose to prominence as a financier at Drexel Burnham Lambert by promoting the use of junk bonds but was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud tied to insider trading in 1989.

He eventually pleaded guilty to securities fraud, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay a $600 million fine.

Milken ended up spending just two years behind bars after co-operating with regulators and seemingly emerged a changed man.

Michael Milken photographed in LA last month.

Today, he’s a billionaire philanthropist who survived prostate cancer and pours huge sums in to medical research.

Anyway, Russo has posted pics of her and Pask hobnobbing with Milken, as well as her long-time mate, the legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

As usual, she offered up breathless commentary on Instagram.

“With Michael MILKEN & Buzz Aldrin- meeting of the minds! An incredible & joyful moment! Living the dream: inspire or expire!!!! OMG ... that’s me! Keep inspiring!!!!’’ one post said.

Russo also shared happy snaps of her with motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins, as well as Arianna Huffington, who co-founded Huffington Post, one of the most influential centre-left news and commentary sites in the US.

BLUE SKY STAYS

SPEAKING of conferences, an embattled Brisbane fund manager is among the sponsors of this month’s Myriad festival, which brings together entrepreneurs and investors from around the world.

Given the hammering that Blue Sky Alternative Funds has copped over the past month, we wondered if this was money well spent or if the firm would quietly walk away from the event.

But a Blue Sky spin doctor told us yesterday the company had no plans to bail out on the second annual gathering even as she declined to say how much money it had coughed up.

“This is a small sponsorship as I understand it,’’ she said.

Myriad boss Martin Talvari was equally tight-lipped. “We don’t disclose the individual details of any of our sponsorship arrangements,’’ he said.

But Talvari did reveal that the three-day festival, which kicks off in Brisbane on May 16, has secured nearly $1 million in corporate backing.

That’s in addition to $2.1 million tipped in over three years by the Queensland Government.

A crowd of 5000 or so is expected for the festival, which will feature more than 100 speakers.

The biggest drawcards include Google Ventures founder Bill Maris and Steve Jurvetson, who sits on the board of Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX companies.

They will be onboard what’s been dubbed “Myriad Air”, a chartered Qantas 747 flying plenty of heavy hitters from Silicon Valley to Brisbane. Whether Blue Sky founder and former Queensland chief entrepreneur Mark Sowerby shows up remains to be seen.

CONFIDENCE SINKS

STILL on Blue Sky, the firm absorbed more bad news this week when research house Zenith Investments recommended that investors cash out holdings in two of their funds.

Specifically, it targeted the Blue Sky Water Fund and the Blue Sky Alternative Access Fund.

While Zenith applauded a recent board shake-up as “encouraging”, it said its conviction about the soundness of the overall business and the two funds had “materially weakened’’.

“Zenith maintains our concerns regarding Blue Sky’s broader management stability, credibility in the market and the ability to attract capital in its funds in the short to medium-term,’’ the client note said. Ouch.