RAHM EMANUEL: In Banking, Top Obama Aide Made Money and Connections (FRIEND OF MADOFF?)

NY TIMES ^ | December 4, 2008

[Liz]

In late 1998, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm Emanuel, a departing senior political aide to President Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle for something of a job interview....... John Simpson, of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company's Chicago office, flew to Washington to meet Emanuel at the behest of Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Dem donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker.......“I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,” Mr. Wasserstein, now CEO of Lazard, the investment bank.......

Over the course of a 3-hour-plus dinner, they discussed how they might work together......afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.....then went on to make more than $18M in just 2 1/2 years, turning his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He benefited from the sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, getting an unusually large payout.

Former colleagues said Emanuel's insight on the financial services sector is invaluable especially now. But Mr. Emanuel built up strong ties with an industry now at the heart of the economic crisis, one that will be girding for a pitched lobbying battle next year as the incoming Democratic administration considers a potentially sweeping regulatory overhaul.

After Mr. Emanuel left banking to run for Congress, members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5M to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Mr. Emanuel also leaned heavily upon the industry as 2006 Dem Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8M to the Dem committee, behind only retirees.

[Liz]

Nice catch from 12/4. The connection may well be Wasserstein........his firm Lazard has been hired to oversee Madoff's finances. ............. “I had this idea that hiring Rahm could work and that it had upside,” said Mr. Wasserstein, now CEO of Lazard, the investment bank.......

Rahm went on to make more than $18M w/ Wasserstein in just 2 1/2 years. Watta financial genius. Maybe Bernie Madoff gave him some inside tips? (snicker)

BTW, did Rahm fillout the 63-count seven-page personnel application Obama gave to possible appointees? How did Rahm outline his numerous ties to financial institutions involved in the federal bailout. Will Rahm's emails to Bernie Madoff embarass Obama? Did he mention his position on the Board of the corrupt Freddie Mac?

===========================================

L/E needs to investigate all these jokers immediately.

REFERENCE The "network" was working at warp speed when Rahm Emanuel, a departing senior political aide to President Bill Clinton went kicking and screaming to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle to meet John Simpson, of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company's Chicago office.

Simpson flew to Washington to meet Emanuel at the behest of Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Dem donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker (Wasserstein now chair of Lazard Freres---"coincidentally"---has been hired to oversee Ponzi Madoff's finances).

After a 3-hour-plus dinner, Emanuel "accepted" an offer, taking him down the network's well-trodden gilded path from politics to the lucrative world of busines (as if this happens to every poor-slob who is about to become unemployed).