New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed two investigations into possible financial misconduct by his personal money manager as “ridiculous.”
The Washington Examiner‘s Hayley Peterson had the chance to ask Bloomberg about former White House car czar Steven Rattner while she was in New York for the Hearst National Championship last week. Bloomberg said his financial adviser and longtime friend Rattner is a “scrupulously honest guy [who] got caught up” in a scheme facilitated by the state’s pension fund managers.
Rattner’s former partners at the Quadrangle Group have pointed the finger at the top Democratic fundraiser for a scheme that investigators say allowed Quadrangle to secure a $100 million state investment contract by agreeing to distribute a low-budget film created by the brother of a top official. Rattner is reportedly fighting a move by the Securities and Exchange Commission to bar him from the investment business for three years.
“I don’t think he did anything wrong,” Bloomberg said of Rattner. “I happen to think the charge against him is ridiculous.”
Bloomberg’s so willing to stand by his man that he recently gave Rattner $5 billion to establish a new firm.
“I’ve always stood up for anybody that works with me who gets attacked by the press,” Bloomberg said. “Steven Rattner’s a very close friend of mine and remains a close friend.”
Peterson was chosen for the contest because of her college newspaper work at her alma mater, the University of Georgia. She finished second place.
