Member of Obama's Auto Task probed
4/17/2009 2:23 PM ET
(RTTNews) - It was announced Friday that Steven Rattner, a member of Barack Obama's auto task force, has been linked to a company that has been accused of paying over $1 million to Hank Morris, a political aide to former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in a bid for a $100 million investment from New York State's employee pension fund.
Rattner co-founded Quadrangle Group in 2000 and served as an executive at the time a senior executive from the company met with Morris and entered into a finder fee agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Quadrangle agreed to pay Morris's firm Searle & Co. a finder fee of 1.1% of any amount of money it received from the pension fund.
Meanwhile, the senior executive from Quadrangle also met with David Loglisci, who had served under Comptroller Hevesi, and began to solicit an investment for the company in the pension fund, which Loglisci reacted favorably to.
Shortly after, Quadrangle affiliate GT Brands entered into agreement to acquire the DVD distribution rights to the film "Chooch", which had been produced by Loglisci's brother.
Three weeks later, Loglisci personally informed the Quadrangle executive that the pension fund would be making a $100 million investment in the Quadrangle Fund.
As per its agreement with Morris, Quadrangle paid Searle $1.125 million from October 2005 through June 2007, with Morris himself receiving 95 percent of the total amount.
At this point, Rattner has not been charged with any wrongdoing. A Treasury Department spokesperson did not comment on specific details of the case, but did note, "During the transition, Mr. Rattner made us aware of the pending investigation." |
