Geithner & Rubin Stopped Bair From Firing Vikram Pandit

More inside bailout detail from Sheila Bair's new book.

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Bloomberg

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner resisted Sheila Bair’s efforts to replace Vikram Pandit as chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc. in early 2009, according to her memoir of the financial crisis.  Pandit was “handpicked” to be CEO by former Citigroup Chairman and ex-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who is Geithner’s “mentor and hero,” Bair wrote in “Bull by the Horns.” That bond was probably the reason why Geithner warded off her attempts to replace Pandit, she said.

“I assumed that was because of his relationship with Bob Rubin,” Bair said today in an interview following an appearance on Bloomberg Television. “Vikram had gotten his job with Bob Rubin’s support. There was a close working relationship there that troubled me.”

Bair, 58, who stepped down last year as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., sought to replace Pandit with Jerry Grundhofer, a Citigroup (C) director and ex-CEO of U.S. Bancorp (USB), according to the book.

“I had been pushing hard for Grundhofer to replace Pandit, and I believe Jerry would have stepped in if Tim had asked him to,” Bair wrote. “But Tim would not take decisive action to replace Bob Rubin’s handpicked choice for CEO, Vikram Pandit.”

Continue reading...

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Sheila Bair Reuters interview, Sep. 27:

Here's what we've learned so far from Bair's book:

• Citigroup and Merrill were both insolvent.
• Bair wanted Volcker for Treasury Secretary.
• Geithner loves Citigroup.
• Blankfein wasn't playing team ball until Bair called Buffet to complain.

Comments

[DailyBail]

Sheila Bair: 'Tim Geithner Was The Problem'

http://dailybail.com/home/sheila-bair-tim-geithner-was-the-problem.html

[Pitchfork]

Awesome. Chris Whalen has been saying for 3 years or more that Geithner wasn't operating on his own and that he was constantly in contact with Rubin throughout the crisis (for orders?). Glad to see Bair corroborate Whalen's perfectly reasonable speculations on this.

[DailyBail]

Yep, and Geithner's NY Fed phone records gave the biggest clue. Can't find the link now, but he was talking to rubin multiple times daily.

[Pitchfork]

Yeah, I remember reading those. Something like 47 times a day he was on the phone with Rubin.

[DailyBail]

And of course, Whalen wants to know what Rubin knew about Libor fixing.

http://dailybail.com/home/chris-whalen-on-geithners-kissinger-moment-what-did-bob-rubi.html

[DailyBail]

Bubble Architect Robert Rubin Returns To Wall Street (With A Sex Scandal)

http://dailybail.com/home/hes-back-bubble-architect-robert-rubin-returns-to-wall-stree.html

[DailyBail]

Yo Bob Rubin: Shut Your Freaking Pie Hole

http://dailybail.com/live-beat/yo-bob-rubin-shut-your-freaking-pie-hole.html

[LadyLiberty]

Bernanke just warned Congress it ould go screw itself so since they are supposed to represent us he just told us all to go screw ourselves

Bernanke Warns Congress: Don’t Change Law To Review Fed’s Policy Discussions


http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/10/01/bernanke-warns-congress-dont-change-law-to-review-feds-policy-discussions/

[JosephConrad]

PAULSON, RUBIN, PRINCE, FRIEDMAN, GREENSPAN, GEITHNER, SUMMERS, BLANKFEIN & BERNANKE ALL HAVE AT LEAST 3 CHARACTERISTICS IN COMMON - THEY'RE LIARS & THIEVES ...and YOU CAN GUESS THE THIRD! These men DESTROYED DEMOCRACY IN THIS NATION AND DESWERVE TO BE IN PRISON - TOGETHER IN ONE CELL...Horrible DISHONOABLE men...

[Howard T. Lewis III]

I can't believe the justice department is guarding these thugs.from public thumbscrews. They are just sitting there dismantling the remains of a once prosperous economy and calling it sound financial planning. There has got to be a way. Look to queen lizard, licking her chops.