This episode appears to be based on the following events:
- The 1989 "Keating Five" scandal and the subsequent savings and loan crisis. The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators-Alan Cranston (Democrat of California), Dennis DeConcini (Democrat of Arizona), John Glenn (Democrat of Ohio), John McCain (Republican of Arizona), and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (Democrat of Michigan)-were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of Charles H. Keating, Jr., Chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB). The FHLBB subsequently backed off taking action against Lincoln.
- The Michael Milken case. Milken, was an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy outs (LBOs) and greatly changed the structure of corporate America. By the late 1980s, though, Milken and junk bonds became more heavily scrutinized, and Milken was eventually implicated in a number of felonious acts. Milken was later pardoned by President Donald Trump on February 18, 2020.
- The 1986 Ivan Boesky case. Boesky was a former American stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pled guilty to insider trading, was fined a record $100 million, and later became an informant.
- The 1986 Bank of Credit and Commerce International money laundering scandal. The BCCI was the seventh-largest private bank in the world and came under the scrutiny of financial regulators and intelligence agencies in the 1980s, due to concerns that it was poorly regulated and had illegally gained the controlling interest in a major American bank. BCCI became the focus of a massive regulatory battle in 1991, and, on the 5th of July of that year, customs and bank regulators in seven countries raided and locked down records of its branch offices. Subsequent investigations revealed that it was involved in massive money laundering for figures such as Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and Samuel Doe, and for criminal organizations such as the Medellin Cartel and Abu Nidal. Police and intelligence experts nicknamed BCCI the "Bank of Crooks and Criminals International" for its penchant for catering to customers who dealt in arms, drugs, and hot money. A supporting character was based on Clark Clifford, a successful Washington lawyer, who was a key figure in the BBCI scandal. Although Clifford maintained his innocence, he did face criminal charges of fraud, conspiracy, and taking bribes. These charges were dropped in 1993 because of Clifford's ill health. In 1998, the year of his death, he and his partner, Robert A. Altman reached a $5 million settlement with the Federal Reserve and settled the last of several civil lawsuits against them.
- Inspired by the life of American Financer Asher Edelman.
- Inspired by the life of American businessman Carl Icahn.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette mentions "St. Eligius". This is a reference to St. Elsewhere (1982) whose hospital was called St. Eligius. Both Law & Order and St. Elsewhere aired on NBC.
One of the characters mentions corporate raiders "like McFadden and Pickens". While McFadden is a character in this story, T. Boone Pickens is an actual businessman, primarily in petroleum, from Drumright, Oklahoma.
Victor Slezak has played four different characters throughout the course of Law & Order:
- Episode 2.22 The Working Stiff (1992) - William Cousins.
- Episode 4.22 Old Friends (1994) - Steven Green.
- Episode 7.08 Family Business (1996) - Jeffrey Arbaugh.
- Episode 11.2 Turnstile Justice (2000) - Philip Andrews.
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Victor Slezak (William Cousins) also worked together on Lifeguard (2009) (episode 1.10), as Peter Florrick & the Palgrave Director respectively.