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Obama's New Chief Of Staff Made Some Amazing Hedge Fund Investments At Citi
TBI ^ | 1-10-2012 | Lisa Du

Posted on 01/10/2012 9:59:23 PM PST by blam

Obama's New Chief Of Staff Made Some Amazing Hedge Fund Investments At Citi

Lisa Du
Jan. 10, 2012, 3:50 PM

Ever since it was announced that Jack Lew, current head of the Office of Management and Budget, would be President Barack Obama's new Chief of Staff to replace the departing William Daley, the media sphere has been abuzz with Lew's stellar political resume—having worked for several Congressmen and under both Bill and Hillary Clinton—and the fact that he is described as a "mild-mannered and steady technocrat," enjoying bi-partisan support.

But the incoming chief has another facet to his work history—he's a former Wall Streeter, and did a stint overseeing hedge funds for Citigroup from 2006 to 2009, and as the Chief Operating Officer of Citi Alternative Investments in his last year there. One of the hedge funds Lew was in charge of at Citi made a windfall in 2008 by shorting mortgage securities, and the the former executive was awarded a $900,000 bonus the year after.

As Alain Sherter at CBS points out, Lew's Wall Street past isn't indicative of how he'll perform in his new duties as Chief of Staff, but does shine light on where possible conflicts of interests may lay.

Another well-kept secret in Lew's Citigroup career is that he invested in John Paulson, who is famous for making billions shorting mortgages during the crisis. When Lew became COO of Citi Alternative Investments at the end of 2007, one of Citi's internal funds had $18 million invested in Paulson's Advantage Plus fund. Within three months of Lew becoming COO, the investment in Paulson had doubled to $41.5 million, The Huffington Post reported in 2010.

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009; citi; citibank; corruption; hedgefunds; insidertrading; jackie; jacklew; johnpaulson; lew; mortgages; obama; omb; shorted; shortingmortgages; williamdaley

1 posted on 01/10/2012 9:59:35 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

Breathtaking hypocrisy.


2 posted on 01/10/2012 10:02:00 PM PST by americanophile ("this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives" - Ataturk)
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From a central bankster’s perspective an Obama tool is the same as a Romney tool.

###

Mitt Romey, the central bankster Goldman Sachs candidate.

The Romney Con
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vS9SF3vc-A


3 posted on 01/10/2012 10:07:40 PM PST by Milhous
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To: blam

If you are hell bent on crashing the country you would want someone who knows how to make money on the way down.


4 posted on 01/10/2012 10:08:26 PM PST by allmost
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To: allmost
If you are hell bent on crashing the country you would want someone who knows how to make money on the way down."

Yup...someone who has already been paid, eh?

5 posted on 01/10/2012 10:12:46 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
Proven track record. The right connections, make the people of this country squeal if it makes them a buck.
6 posted on 01/10/2012 10:15:38 PM PST by allmost
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To: allmost

Insider trading is allowed for congress (that is how a lot of them make their millions). The first thing that stood out was that he worked for several congressmen and knew when and what to sell short. Was he active participant in their insider trading? /s And of course he worked under the second most ethical President in the world. /s


7 posted on 01/11/2012 2:23:38 AM PST by BushCountry (I hope the Mayans are wrong!)
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To: blam

When Lew became COO of Citi Alternative Investments at the end of 2007, one of Citi’s internal funds had $18 million invested in Paulson’s Advantage Plus fund. Within three months of Lew becoming COO, the investment in Paulson had doubled to $41.5 million,

So he got 900k for just getting appointed to the position. The investment was already made and the dominoes had been pushed. The big question would be what made him qualified to even sit in that position. Connections to Congress?


8 posted on 01/11/2012 3:21:48 AM PST by pas
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To: blam

As a COO, his job would have been to maintain the paper work and run the back office. He did not engage in any activities most people think of as banking.


9 posted on 01/11/2012 4:29:44 AM PST by proxy_user
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