Obama auto task force chief Steven Rattner a probe target in NY pension fund scandal -- WSJ
Steven Rattner, head of Barack Obama's auto task force, has been probed in connection with the scandal swirling around pension fund "finder's fees" during the administration of former N.Y. state comptroller Alan Hevesi. That's what the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The investment-firm muckamuck was the "senior executive" named in an SEC complaint about dealings in the alleged kickback scheme. Rattner or his firm, Quadrangle, haven't been accused of wrongdoing.
As I previously noted, see my colleague Tom Robbins for other coverage of the Hevesi scandal.
It's obvious that the scope of the scandal revolving around veteran Democratic pol Hevesi will only widen in the coming days. From the WSJ piece:
The person identified in the complaint as a "senior executive" is Mr. Rattner, who co-founded Quadrangle, according to the person familiar with the matter. Neither Mr. Rattner nor Quadrangle has been accused of any wrongdoing. Mr. Rattner did not return calls for comment.
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Steve Rattner is the latest President Obama appointee who is under fire. Steve Rattner, selected to oversee the automobile industry as the Car czar, of sorts, was the head of the Quadrangle Group, an investment firm that is under SEC investigation. He is alleged to have agreed to finance distribution of a film called Chooch, an Americanized Italian term for a person of questionable intellect, in what seems to be a pay for play scheme in which he got control of a New York based pension fund. Maybe he did it for debt consolidation, or perhaps he was a chooch himself. Regardless, Steve Rattner would get a quick payday loan to make the Chooch scandal go away.
Posted On: Friday, Apr. 24 2009 @ 1:08AM