By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter Producer
MANHATTAN — Elite investment banker Steven L. Rattner is engaged in a stand-off with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is pushing to have the financier barred from Wall Street, the New York Times reported.
Rattner's former investment company, Quadrangle Group, was one of several investment firms that settled with the state attorney general's office after being accused of paying off aides to the former New York City comptroller in order to get a piece of the city workers' pension business, the Times said.
According to the settlement, Rattner, 57, personally arranged a $1 million kickback to Henry Morris, then an aide to Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in exchange for a $100 million investment from the city's pension fund, according to the paper. The deal earned Quadrangle $5 million in fees, the Times noted.
However, Rattner refused to include himself in the settlement, which required the company to pay $12 million in fines, as it would have prevented him from working on Wall Street, the paper said.
While the attorney general's office agreed not to press criminal charges against Rattner, the SEC must now decide whether to pursue a civil case against the banker or simply drop the issue, according to the Times.
If the SEC does pursue civil charges against him, the case might have ramifications for many of New York's top politicians, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the paper noted.
Rattner, who was a lead advisor to President Barack Obama during the auto industry bailout, is currently involved in setting up a multi-billion dollar investment operation to manage the mayor's charitable contributions, according to the Times.
The financier and prominent donor to the Democratic party also has ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Harold Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman who considered a run for New York governor, the paper said.
