Charlie Rose

ridley123  12/01/2010 08:48 AM Report

As someone who has been in the business of raising money for hedge funds and private equity funds, I can confirm that it is standard practice to hire what is called a third party marketer to help raise money. It is done to supplement in-house marketing efforts and you hire those who have the best contacts and network for a particular type of client, e.g., individual vs. institutional. There is nothing remotely illegal or unethical about this, and it seems this was done on the up and up. I am not sure how you would know the guy you hired is on the take, or that there is a secret arrangement with the prospective client (Alan Hevesi, no less in this case).

As for the film, it is entirely plausible that it was done for relationship building as Rattner says. No business is an island, and throughout one's business life, you are always making connections and intros and helping others, as they help you. When a good client asks you to buy a table at their favorite charity event of which they are the chairperson, you do it. Why? Has he or she given you the business because you did that? No. But it is a way to say thank you for your business, which can be given to many others instead of you. No firm, no matter how great its performance is, is without worthy competitors of similar ilk. An investor has many choices, and factors like liking the managers enough to work with them, are important. If investors think there are added benefits in addition to the investment itself, when you have other funds that are just as good, this will be a factor. An intro to a Quadrangle company is a nice side benefit, but like introducing a friend to another friend for a job does not guarantee a job. You are helping out both sides: your friend who needs to hire someone sees a potentially good candidate, and the friend who needs the job, gets an opportunity. That is a good thing.

This movie could have been a great find for the distribution company, who knows, and that would have benefitted the distribution company and Quadrangle. It is not a one-way street, but has potential benefits on both sides.

I think motivation on both parts is interesting to think about. Rattner apparently has disliked Cuomo for years, and Cuomo knows that. What better way to get back at someone rich and powerful than to use your power for personal ends? (Isn't that what George W. did with the Iraq invasion? Try to avenge his father?)

As for Rattner's motivation, this is a guy who has wanted to be in Washington his whole life, has enough money to live comfortably for many lifetimes, and is not stupid: he knows one has to be squeaky clean if you enter the big-time spotlight of national politics. Why risk that? Rattner may be transparently ambitious, which rubs some the wrong way, but that is a far cry from being corrupt and unethical.

I think he should fight Cuomo tooth and nail: look at Giuliani, who got few convictions, but ruined lives and reputations through sheer accusation, or the bullying tactics of Spitzer, who used the threat of prosecution, knowing companies could not risk damage to their credit rating should a conviction occur, to get acquiesce to his mis-guided solutions to the Potemkin Village problem in research when investment banking deals were at stake.

I think this is far from black and white, as Cuomo would like to depict it.

winter  11/24/2010 10:52 AM Report

"Andrew Cuomo is ...emotional" where do you think he got that from? 2001 A Space Odyssey?

Hal: Dave ...Dave?!? What are you doing Dave???

RONN  11/23/2010 11:41 PM Report

another lying money changer from the money changers cabal....

robdverity  11/23/2010 06:57 PM Report

Culpability apparently established with settlement to SEC. So how pregnant is he? Twins or octomom type? Seems to epitomize our corrosive financial system. They all need throwing under the bus. Be no loss.

salgadoce  11/23/2010 05:04 PM Report

"I have the best wife in the world; I have four wonderful children; everybody is healthy; we're financially secure; and nothing else matters."

RATtner's right. Dignity, integrity, and honor are waaaaay overrated.

mutex  11/23/2010 01:29 PM Report

We shouldn't 'waste' time prosecuting people who have committed crimes. The 'justice' system only exists to further some political agenda or to keep the little people under control. RATtner has a great name though, don't you think? Just look at this beady-eyed rodent, twisting and squirming, now that he is caught in a trap. I can see why he wants to go to Washington to be a 'public servant'...he would fit right in!

winter  11/23/2010 01:04 PM Report

Andrew Cuomo is the one man in America ( obviously Elizabeth Warren is a woman!) who, if you really want to clean up Dodge you'll advocate having on the beat. First off he's prosecuting his own party here and one of its biggest fund raisers. That's one clue as to where his principles lie. Someone said, "theres two types of people, those who protect people at the expense of principles and those who protect principles at the expense of people". The defense that Cuomo is playing politics is thankfully disgarded since Mr Cuomo has his place cemented in bedrock regardless. Mr Rattner seems to be resorting to the desperate arguments of someone who's been caught; "Cuomo is emotional" and pleading the fifth

so many times is the last refuge left for him. And the disputed amount in question is only Mr Cuomo seeking to get ALL the money back for the people and their time. You can only wish Andrew Cuomo had been lead prosecutor for the case against Goldman.

CarolJ  11/23/2010 12:28 PM Report

This video stopped at 25.43 minutes, of course it is a good interview.

DavidRedpath  11/23/2010 12:26 PM Report

Mr. Rattner's comment-

"I believed I was making an introduction for someone to someone not in the

context of trying to have that, make us get money or anything of that sort,

but simply in the broadest sense of relationship building and that was all."

- is absurd. You don't become a billion dollar fund manager by spending your time creating and nurturing benign business relationships.

If he used his considerable influence to affect the distribution of animated DVDs, so be it. It is a colossal waste of time and money to prosecute, at least by Wall Street's standards, a stand up guy.

REMant  11/23/2010 11:11 AM Report

Probably as important as prosecuting Martha Stewart.