Jefferies CEO sold $65 million in stock to buy a yacht from a client

• Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million in company stock to buy a luxury yacht.
• He's said to be buying a Westport 164 from his friend Tilman Fertitta, a Jefferies client.

Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million of his stock in the company to buy himself a gift — a luxury yacht.

Handler sold 1.5 million shares, or 7% of his holdings, to purchase a "personal boat and to pay tax obligations," the investment bank said in a Wednesday statement.

"My sale of shares today was a gift to myself and my family, and I do not intend to sell any further shares," Handler said in the statement. "I remain extremely bullish on Jefferies."

A source told the Financial Times the boat was a Westport 164 yacht and was being purchased from Handler's longtime friend Tilman Fertitta, a Jefferies client.

Fertitta is the billionaire CEO of the hospitality company Landry's and owns the Houston Rockets, an NBA team. The two men jointly own Landcadia Holdings, a blank-check company.

Jefferies said in the statement that Handler, who's been with the bank since 1990, had received about 70% of his pay in the form of company shares. The bank said he'd previously sold shares only for tax purposes and charity.

Jefferies didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Investors often view executives' stock sales as signaling a lack of company confidence, so any sales are carefully messaged.

In October, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he would sell 1 million of his 8.6 million shares, his first sale since becoming CEO in 2006. The filing announcing the planned sale said that Dimon chose to sell the stocks "for financial diversification and tax-planning purposes" and that he "continues to believe the company's prospects are very strong."

Dimon sold the first of the sets of shares in February for $150 million and sold the remainder earlier this month, pocketing $183 million in total proceeds.