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Former federal prosecutor <keyword id="151343" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Neil-Barofsky">Neil Barofsky</keyword>, who is also the former Special Inspector General for <keyword id="82936" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="TARP">TARP</keyword> and the author of "Bailout," is joining a big white collar law firm, Jenner &amp; Block. 
In his new job, Barofsky will be a partner in the New York office and he'll be representing financial firms in the hedge fund and private equity space. 
"Neil is a great fit for Jenner &amp; Block. His background as a senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the TARP's inspector general has given him an unparalleled grasp of the most complex financial transactions of the last decade. He will undoubtedly enhance the firm's capabilities in securities and other litigation matters on behalf of hedge funds, private equity firms and other entities litigating over complex financial instruments," Susan Levy, managing partner of Jenner &amp; Block, said in a statement. 
"I look forward to using my experiences as a prosecutor, as a financial regulator and as a trial lawyer to assist and defend clients who find themselves the subject of criminal and regulatory enforcement matters and also to representing clients in civil litigation, including those seeking redress for harm suffered in complex financial transactions," Barofsky said in a statement.
Jenner &amp; Block's chairman Anton Valukas served as the examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The law firm produced a <a href="http://jenner.com/lehman/">huge cache of Lehman bankruptcy documents</a> that included a bunch of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lehman-brothers-2012-5">embarrassing emails.</a> 
Here's the full press release on Barofsky's hire: 
Jenner &amp; Block LLP is pleased to announce that <a href="http://jenner.com/people/NeilBarofsky">Neil Barofsky</a>, a former federal prosecutor who served as the chief watchdog of the historic $700 billion federal bailout adopted in response to the 2008 financial crisis, has joined its New York office as a partner in the firm's Litigation Department. He will be a member of the firm's practice groups in White Collar Defense and Investigations; Securities Litigation and Enforcement; and Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation.
Mr. Barofsky is an acclaimed trial lawyer who burnished a national reputation as a staunch advocate for accountability in our financial system. Confirmed by the Senate as the first Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in late 2008, he oversaw the creation and expansion of a law enforcement agency within the U.S. Treasury Department, which was charged by Congress to conduct criminal and civil investigations of fraud and abuse linked to the bailouts. Since leaving that post in 2011, Mr. Barofsky has been a noted commentator on a variety of issues at the intersection of economics, law, business and politics for Bloomberg TV and other media outlets. He documented his experiences in overseeing the TARP Program in his best-selling book, Bailout.
Mr. Barofsky spent more than eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), where he investigated and tried some of the most significant cases in the United States, including the successful investigation, trial and conviction of former Refco, Inc. officers of a $2.4 billion securities and accounting fraud, for which he received the Department of Justice's highest award for excellence in legal performance. He rose to be a Senior Trial Counsel and headed the Mortgage Fraud Group, a prosecutorial team that investigated and prosecuted all aspects of mortgage fraud, including those concerning the most complex financial instruments at the heart of the financial crisis.
"Neil is a great fit for Jenner &amp; Block. His background as a senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the TARP's inspector general has given him an unparalleled grasp of the most complex financial transactions of the last decade. He will undoubtedly enhance the firm's capabilities in securities and other litigation matters on behalf of hedge funds, private equity firms and other entities litigating over complex financial instruments," said Susan C. Levy, Managing Partner of Jenner &amp; Block.
Jenner &amp; Block's Chairman and the Examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Anton R. Valukas, said, "Neil's experience is simply unmatched. He offers our clients the judgment and credibility they require when dealing with the Justice Department, the Treasury Department, Congress, the SEC and other financial regulators. I'm delighted to welcome Neil to the firm."
As the first Special Inspector General for TARP, Mr. Barofsky established an investigative office of more than 130 employees. Under his leadership, the office's investigations led to the recovery or avoided losses of more than $700 million, and to date have led to more than 100 fraud convictions. He implemented the office's audit division, whose acclaimed reports helped protect vital taxpayer interests. He has testified before Congress more than two dozen times. 
"Jenner &amp; Block is an ideal platform where my practice can flourish because of its renowned litigation reputation, the iconic role it has played in issues surrounding the financial crisis and the firm's regular role in matters involving complex financial instruments. Most importantly, I wanted to work at a firm that shares my commitment to zealous advocacy of its clients and, as demonstrated in the Lehman examinership, a willingness to embrace the most challenging matters against the most difficult adversaries in the most demanding circumstances. I look forward to using my experiences as a prosecutor, as a financial regulator and as a trial lawyer to assist and defend clients who find themselves the subject of criminal and regulatory enforcement matters and also to representing clients in civil litigation, including those seeking redress for harm suffered in complex financial transactions," said Mr. Barofsky, currently a Senior Fellow for the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at the New York University Law School. "I am also looking forward to following in the firm's tradition of service through examinerships and monitorships, as well as its demonstrated commitment to pro bono and community service. Jenner &amp; Block is a perfect fit for me."
Peter B. Pope, co-chair of the firm's White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice, said, "With a focus on white collar defense and civil litigation - particularly involving complex financial instruments - Neil is a strong addition to our unique offering of a top-flight white collar practice with a compelling track record in complex civil litigation involving financial matters."
Mr. Barofsky is a 1995 magna cum laude graduate of the New York University School of Law and a 1992 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he received undergraduate degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences.
In the firm's New York Office, Mr. Barofsky will be joining leading white collar defense practitioners Peter Pope, former head of the New York State Attorney General's Criminal Division; Katya Jestin, former Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn; and Tony Barkow, former Assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan and Washington, D.C. In the arena of civil litigation involving complex financial instruments, he joins Richard Ziegler, the Office's Managing Partner, and Stephen Ascher, a co-chair of the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. In May 2013, Messrs. Ziegler and Ascher won a civil trial against Bank of New York Mellon Trust, permitting firm client Chesapeake Energy Corp. to redeem $1.3 billion in high-yield bonds six years early, over the indenture trustee's objection, and last month resolved four years of litigation for firm client Brookfield Asset Management against AIG Financial Products over whether AIG's 2008 financial crisis terminated a $1.5 billion interest rate swap.

Neil Barofsky Is Joining A Huge White Collar Law Firm Where He'll Represent Hedge Funds and Private Equity Firms

AP Photo/Evan Vucci<ul class="summary-list"><li>A substantial chunk of money under the $2.2 trillion stimulus law doesn't carry any public disclosure requirements, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/13/whos-getting-these-hundreds-billions-government-aid-now-public-may-be-dark/">Washington Post reported.</a></li><li>The Small Business Administration isn't required to publicly share which companies are getting loans from a $350 billion fund.</li><li>Critics of the setup argue it could lead to instances of potential fraud or waste.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The American public may never know the identities of businesses that are set to draw hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid under the CARES Act signed into law by President Trump last month.As first <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/13/whos-getting-these-hundreds-billions-government-aid-now-public-may-be-dark/">reported by the Washington Post</a>, the $2.2 trillion stimulus legislation does carry disclosure requirements for a chunk of the taxpayer money that's going to businesses. But there's no language carrying that over to the $350 billion fund for small firms. The legislation doesn't mandate the Small Business Administration to disclose which companies are receiving federal aid - even as some loans could reach $10 million in total.The Post reported the SBA has already logged 487,000 applications for $125 billion in emergency loans.The Federal Reserve is also required to disclose who gets a loan and how much they receive. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell can still request that information be kept confidential, making it available only for congressional leaders.Disclosure requirements vary by the type of spending under the law.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-investing-strategy-beating-the-market-in-downturns-terri-spath-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terri Spath's funds kept client money safe during the coronavirus rout, financial crisis, and tech bubble. Here's how she's done it, and how she's already prepared to make big profits in the aftermath.</a>Supporters of the setup allowing some secrecy argue some firms may be reluctant to apply for the money if that information became public. They say businesses don't want to reveal they're in dire financial straits in the midst of an unprecedented economic shutdown.But critics argue not disclosing the information to the public raises a battery of issues related to possible waste or fraud. "You can only truly measure the success or failure of programs if you know where the money is going," said Neil Barofsky, the former Inspector General of the last bailout, told the Post. "As a matter of basic governance, there should be disclosure of recipients of government bailout money."Some of the information could still be made available through Freedom of Information Act requests.President Trump, though, has taken steps to weaken oversight of the CARES Act. Last week, he removed the head of the federal panel Congress had set up to oversee how the White House implements the law. Trump had previously declared the special inspector general couldn't report to Congress without "presidential supervision."Other proponents of government transparency also argue it's imperative to know whether businesses that receive aid benefited from lobbying or special connections that put them one step ahead.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-coronavirus-bear-rally-rare-post-wwii-downturn-2020-4">A Wall Street chief strategist explains why stocks could repeat an ugly crash that's only occurred once since World War II</a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unemployment-numbers-coronavirus-economy-layoffs-2020-3">3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment - and an economist predicts it could be far worse than the Great Recession</a></h3>

The public may never know which businesses are receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in coronavirus federal aid

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque</div></div></div>Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stress-Test-Reflections-Financial-Crises/dp/0804121184">'Stress Test: Reflections on the Financial Crisis'</a> has barely left the presses and already it's getting slammed.
The book - which is Geithner's account of the darkest days of the financial crisis - has drawn criticism from both Neil Barofsky, the former Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and former George W. Bush economic advisor.
Both men accused Geithner of what Barofsky called "factual mischaracterizations", and what Hubbard called out and out lying.
Semantics. Either way, both men also admit that they haven't read the book.
Barofsky's complaint is that Geithner resorted to name calling in the book, and bashed the TARP office's role as a law enforcement agency in cleaning up after the financial crisis.
Barofsky wrote in a <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/05/neil-barofsky-geithner-forthcoming-book-resorts-already-discredited-factual-mischaracterizations-name-calling.html">response to the book (via Naked Capitalism):</a>
Sadly, this lack of comprehension of the important role of law enforcement too often informed Geithner's attitude toward potential fraud in the TARP programs. His team often resisted antifraud protections that we insisted be included in the programs, claiming that the banks who were participating in the programs could simply be trusted, a perspective that now has proven to be naïve at best. Thankfully, with help from Congress, other oversight bodies, and even, at times, the Federal Reserve, we were able to overcome Treasury's resistance and protect the TARP programs from potentially devastating losses, something that Mr. Geithner once even thanked me for.
Barofsky goes on to say that Geithner's book paints him as an unqualified leader for TARP, an agency which Geithner saw as a thorn in his side anyway.
Mr. Geithner apparently concludes that our little agency was "damaging" to his efforts to persuade the American people to support his program. While I take it as a compliment that he thinks that our team had such a disproportionate impact, I suspect that the truth is slightly different. The American people considered TARP an unfair giveaway to the largest banks and a failure for Main Street because, in fact, that is exactly what it was.
All this said, Barofsky has always been clear about his strained relationship with the former Treasury Secretary. He thought Geithner was far too supportive of Wall Street banks during in the aftermath of the financial melt down. Memoir name-calling, though, seems like the last straw.
If that sounds bad, then what Hubbard accuses Geithner of is possibly about the worst thing anyone could do to a Republican economic advisor. In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stress-Test-Reflections-Financial-Crises/dp/0804121184">'Stress Test,'</a> Geithner says that Hubbard endorsed raising taxes. Hubbard, in turn, told <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/mitt-romney-adviser-tim-geithner-lie-106563.html?hp=f2">Politico</a> that that is a lie.
"He's going to go out and say what he wants," Hubbard said in an interview. "It just happens to be a lie."
Geithner wrote that Hubbard admitted that "of course" the administration was going to have to raise taxes, but that it was politically impossible for anyone to say it publicly yet.
In his own way, Hubbard also agrees with Barofsky about Geithner's allegiance to Wall Street interests, saying that Geithner was against helping underwater homeowners through mortgage refinancing
"I saw some of the excerpts about housing and I must say I split my side in laughter because Tim Geithner personally and actively opposed mortgage refinancing, constantly," he said. "And now he's claiming this would have been a great idea in the country. I don't know how much more ingenuous that is in the book, but that was just a real laugher."
Pistols at dawn, guys.

Tim Geithner's New Book Has Already Made Two People Furious

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Speculation has shifted to who will replace New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, who is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/benjamin-lawsky-will-step-down-nytimes-2015-5">leaving the position</a> to launch a legal and consulting firm. Lawsky took the reins for DFS four years ago after Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed him to the agency after its creation.In the time since, he's racked up billions in fines for DFS and spooked plenty of dealmakers on Wall Street.Business Insider reached out to the Department of Financial Services, which didn't comment. It's not clear when Lawsky will relinquish his role at DFS, but that's not stopping tongues on Wall Street from wagging. Both lawyers and dealmakers expressed a range of emotions and ideas when Business Insider to discuss the second-ever DFS superintendent. This is what they said:<ul><li>Expect another politico: "His successor likely will have experience in the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, where he or she has prosecuted securities or financial crime cases, plus experience in New York state <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword>, serving as counsel to a powerful state legislator or to an important legislative committee that conducts publicly visible investigations," one legal source said. "The position has become prosecutorial, not just regulatory, and requires political savvy and backing."</li><li>There are a handful of former Wall Street prosecutors who could be a fit, one source says. Neil Barofsky is now a partner with <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword> firm Jenner &amp; Block, but before that he spent eight years as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. A potential drawback for Barofsky, from one legal source: "He doesn't have a political bone in his body."</li><li>Maybe it'll be US Attorney Preet Bharara's 'Number Two.' Richard Zabel went from being in the US Attorney's office to private practice, back to the US Attorney's office in the Southern District. Today, he's the deputy US attorney in the Southern, and widely viewed as US Attorney Preet Bharara's 'Number Two.' "I don't think anyone would question his prosecutorial chops," one source opined.</li><li>This person should have some private sector experience. Another former regulator says there is a need for a DFS superintendent with at least some private sector chops. "The best candidate would be one with public and private sector experience," said Roy Gaffer, an ex-SEC lawyer who today works for law firm Sadis Goldberg.</li><li>One candidate is Jonathan Schwartz, a former Wall Street pro who has spent years working in the cable industry. He's currently general counsel for Univision and has experience with other entertainment companies. His mix of private- and public-sector experience makes him a potential fit for the role, in one source's view.</li><li>Hector Gonzalez could be the guy. He is another legal eagle who has experience prosecuting crimes in the Southern District of New York. Now, he's at law firm Dechert. When news of Lawsky's departure broke, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/business/dealbook/benjamin-lawsky-to-step-down-as-new-yorks-top-financial-regulator.html">New York Times reported</a> Gonzalez is considered as a potential candidate to replace him. </li><li>David Meister might be the right person. He's a partner with law firm Skadden. He's also a veteran of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he was enforcement director. Before that, Meister was also a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. </li><li>A long-shot for the seat is Carrie Cohen, a legal source said. She is a Southern District prosecutor with some private sector experience, but most of her work has come as a prosecutor. The biggest drawback for Cohen right now is the fact that she's also in charge of prosecuting New York State assemblyman Sheldon Silver. This could earn her political enemies.</li><li>Few in the banking sector are upset Lawsky is leaving office. "Ding-dong, the witch is dead!" one banking source said in jest, on the news Lawsky was leaving.</li></ul>Lawsky developed a <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/05/20/ny-financial-watchdog-ben-lawsky-leaving-to-start-firm/">reputation</a> for tough on insurance M&amp;A transactions during his tenure, sometimes <a href="http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30903-lawsky-demands-answers-from-ocwen-altisource-on-force-placed-insurance">holding up a deal </a>to get private equity firms and insurers to produce paperwork to justify their transactions. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sachs-free-market-keynesian-approaches-wrong-2015-5">JEFF SACHS: Free-market and Keynesian approaches are both wrong</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Qwb3AwdTqYeGpuNklgrdaWj_b7SCyypz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A New York prosecutor that Wall Street can't stand just resigned - here's who could take his spot

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">REUTERS</div></div>Manhattan district judge Jed Rakoff is no stranger to financial cases. The former prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's office has prosecuted against, judged on, and written about white collar crime before.
But in a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/financial-crisis-why-no-executive-prosecutions/?pagination=false">new essay for the New York Review of Books</a>, Rakoff delivers his most blistering critique of the post-financial crisis legal paradigm.
In "The Financial Crisis: Why Have No High-Level Executives Been Prosecuted?" Rakoff writes how the Justice Department has failed in its basic duties. 
Gone are the days when the government would actually go after a firm's top brass. Remember the savings and loans <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating">kingpins</a>? Even Enron wasn't that long ago. In terms of retribution for the financial crisis, we're basically seeing drawn out slap-on-the-wrist fines with very little admission of wrongdoing (if any) and no real top executives implicated.
For its part, the Justice Department has argued it is difficult to prove intent in these financial crisis cases. But Rakoff pooh-poohs that, writing that there are things called "willful blindness" or "conscious disregard" - upon which federal prosecutors have asked juries to infer intent before.
Perhaps there's a more complex reason. Perhaps the government actually engendered the conditions that made the financial crisis even possible in the first place. From the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/financial-crisis-why-no-executive-prosecutions/?pagination=false">New York Review of Books</a>:
One does not necessarily have to adopt the view of Neil Barofsky, former special inspector general in charge of oversight of <acronym style="line-height: 1.5em;">TARP</acronym>, that regulators made almost no effort to hold accountable the financial institutions they were bailing out, to wonder whether the government, having helped create the conditions that led to the seeming widespread fraud in the mortgage-backed securities market, was all too ready to forgive its alleged perpetrators.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that the government knowingly participated in any of the fraudulent practices alleged by the Financial Inquiry Crisis Commission and others. But what I am suggesting is that the government was deeply involved, from beginning to end, in helping create the conditions that could lead to such fraud, and that this would give a prudent prosecutor pause in deciding whether to indict a <acronym>CEO</acronym> who might, with some justice, claim that he was only doing what he fairly believed the government wanted him to do.
It's a pretty damning account of the the Justice Department's many excuses.
<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/financial-crisis-why-no-executive-prosecutions/?pagination=false">Read Rakoff's whole piece here »</a>

Manhattan Judge Jed Rakoff Gives A Blistering Takedown Of How The Justice Department Handled The Financial Crisis

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>AP</div>Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2014. That means alot to Democrats, who want to keep their slim majority in the <keyword id="6355284" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="senate">Senate</keyword>.
It also means alot to <keyword id="42111" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Wall-Street">Wall Street</keyword>.
Baucus is the head of the Senate Finance Committee. Not to be confused with Senate Banking (that's where Sen. Elizabeth Warren is), Senate Finance handles everything from the budget and tax policy, to trade, entitlement spending and more. Baucus, in short, has tons of power.
In terms of who should be rejoicing about Baucus' exit, Business Insider has heard some mixed things.
"No one fought harder for the creation of SIGTARP than Senator Baucus, and he was one of the fiercest defenders of our mission and our independence," said former TARP czar Neil Barofsky. "Without his unflinching support, we never would have been able to do the job that we did."
On the other hand, Baucus is also known for standing up for the Bush tax cuts, and voting against the Democrats' 2014 budget.
He's also known for having former staffers littered all over K Street. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/us/politics/tax-lobby-builds-ties-to-max-baucus.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0">According to the NYT</a>, these 28 lobbyists make good money for their ability to access Baucus, and are employed by corporations ranging from McDonald's to tobacco company, Altria.
If that doesn't sway you in one direction or another, it's worth knowing that the top 3 donors of Baucus' career (he's been in office since 1989) are financial firms according the Center for Responsive Politics site, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00004643&amp;cycle=Career">OpenSecrets.org.</a>
In fact, you'll note that half of his top donors are financial firms. Here's the top 20 breakdown:
<table class="image-container" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&amp;cid=N00004643&amp;type=I">Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org</a></td></tr></table>
According to Washington chatter, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00007724&amp;cycle=Career">Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)</a> is the mostly replacement for Baucus. There are no financial institutions in his top five donor list. Only accounting firms Delloitte and Pricewaterhouse Cooper make it into the top ten.
Most importantly, there are no investment banks on the top 20 list at all.
From the Center of Responsive Politics' <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&amp;cid=N00007724&amp;type=I">OpenSecrets.org:</a>
<table class="image-container" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&amp;cid=N00007724&amp;type=I">Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org</a></td></tr></table>
It's not hard to see that there could be some big changes coming if Wyden fills in for Baucus. Brace yourselves.

Max Baucus And His Likely Finance Committee Replacement Got Campaign Money From Very Different Places

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">REUTERS/Larry Downing</div></div></div>
Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was one of the more controversial figures of both the financial crisis, and the subsequent first years of the Obama administration, having been perceived as too close to Wall Street. Many also said he failed to do enough to provide relief to homeowners hit by the crash.
In his new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804138591/ref=amb_link_421241422_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&amp;pf_rd_r=1MSQMGXM1HY4PMQZYMDB&amp;pf_rd_t=301&amp;pf_rd_p=1828126922&amp;pf_rd_i=stress%20test">"Stress Test"</a>, Geithner addresses all these issues. He makes a compelling case that the first accusation was definitely not true, and that Treasury did all it reasonably could to address the latter the situation. The main lesson Geithner teaches provides is the nature of decision making in Washington - which will leave you even more depressed about how things get done there.
With that in mind, here are the nine related things we learned in our reading. 
<h2>1) Everyone gets Geithner's background wrong</h2>
The principal criticism of Geithner during his term at Treasury was that he was too close to the banks. Many pointed to his term as head of the New York Fed. But some would point to a non-existent stint at Goldman Sachs as the most firm evidence. 
In fact, Geithner has only spent a few years of his entire career in the private sector, and they were right at the beginning of his career: As an Asia specialist at Henry Kissinger's consulting firm. This was followed by getting asked by Larry Summers to come on as a Treasury functionary, then a stint at the IMF, then the New York Fed, and finally back to Treasury. 
Geithner says the idea of an eight-figure salary never inspired him, and that he preferred the career of a problem solver. He asserts he found much of what Wall Street did before and during the crisis, like AIG's decision to pay out bonuses, totally amoral. But he remains furious at the accusations of conflicts of interest. 
"I was sick of the insinuations, so prevalent in Washington, that any advocates of using emergency authorities to quell the panic must be acting at the behest of big banks," he writes. "The stability of the entire banking system was at risk. The economy was already hurting badly." 
<h2>2) There are some behind-the-scenes mandarins you should set up Google Alerts for.</h2>
Geithner is effusive with praising his team both at the New York Fed and at Treasury. There are a few people in particular who he says were indispensable:
<h3>Meg McConnell</h3>
Current: Senior Vice President and Director of the Office of Financial Stability &amp; Regulatory Policy at the New York Fed.
Anecdote: "Meg has a feel for the dark side of any situation."
<h3>Matt Kabaker</h3>
Current: Senior Managing Director, Centerbridge Partners
"The stress test would end up having many other virtues I didn't foresee at the time. Kabaker later dubbed it "the gift that keeps on giving."
<h3>Lee Sachs </h3>
Current: CEO of Alliance Partners
Anecdote: "Lee kept saying he could feel the markets tremble with every exploratory call to New York from a White House staffer."
<h3>Neil Wolin</h3>
Current: Unknown (most recently Acting Treasury Secretary)
"After Oxford and Yale Law School, Neal had worked for Bob Gates at the CIA; he had been Treasury's general counsel during the Clinton administration; he had run a major insurance business; and how he was a deputy White House counsel. Rahm immediately told him to get the fuck over to Treasury to help me, without even specifying a job."
<h2>3) There are others who weren't part of Geithner's team that we get keen insight into.</h2>
<h3>Pete Rouse</h3>
Obama's former chief is staff (he now works at a law firm) is described as the man responsible for getting Elizabeth Warren to run for senate instead of heading up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
<h3>Rodgin Cohen</h3>
Cohen, the chairman of megafirm Sullivan &amp; Cromwell, is described as "Wall Street's trauma surgeon," having represented basically every firm that went critical during the crisis. 
<h3>Mitch McConnell</h3>
Geithner found many of the Senate Minority leader's beliefs and methods offensive, but appreciated his unusual candor, and willingness to recognize un-winnable battles. 
<h3>John Boehner</h3>
Geithner reserves special praise for John Boehner, whom he says did the best he could to keep the House wolves calling for a U.S. default at bay. "I kind of liked Boehner," Geithner writes. "He had an easygoing manner, and he seemed lonely in his new position as a pragmatic conservative surrounded by extremists." 
<h2>4) Geithner swears as much as Rahm Emanuel. </h2>
Maybe it's the height thing - but Geithner humorously (and also occasionally ragefully) - drops a fair amount of obscenities. Here's the count according to an Amazon search (which may undercount):
Fucking: 8*
Fuck: 6
Clusterfuck: 2
Fucked: 1
Shit: 2
Shitty: 1
*Also includes "NFW", abbreviation of "no fucking way."
An example: "I'm the fucking Treasury secretary and I can't see these numbers?" Geithner screams - at New York Fed employees - his former colleagues, no less - over their unwillingness to show him very preliminary stress test data (he concedes the numbers were prone to shifting at that point).
<h2>5) Your worst fears about Congress are true</h2>
Geithner provides multiple examples of just how craven, idiotic and generally pathetic elected officials can be. The most memorable is anecdote about Mark Kirk, the Senator from Illinois who ultimately took over the seat Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted of trying to sell. While in Beijing on his first trip as secretary, Geithner heard that Kirk had told Chinese officials not to buy U.S. Treasuries because runaway government spending was driving us towards default and that the Fed was creating hyperinflation.
"I couldn't believe it," Geithner writes. "Not only were those fears delusional, but he was undermining American interests on foreign soil." 
In debating the financial reform bill, he encountered freshly elected Sen. Scott Brown. "When the conversation finally turned to substance, he said he liked the idea of financial reform and expected to be with us," Geithner writes. "But without any irony or self-consciousness, he said he needed to protect two financial institutions in Massachusetts from the Volcker Rule's restrictions. Then he furrowed his brow and turned to his aide. 'Which ones are they, again?' he asked."
<h2>6) And there are some officials who Geithner thinks exacerbated the crisis, or deserve total scorn.</h2>
The most consequential is Sheila Bair, the head of the FDIC during the crisis. Geithner says Bair dropped the ball on numerous occasions: By not taking advantage of the emergency powers Congress extended to the FDIC to guarantee Washington Mutual 's, sending the cost of insuring against corporate defaults skyward and, Geithner says, dooming Wachovia to a shotgun marriage-buyout by Citi. She is ultimately given a reprieve in the acknowledgments section - and <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/05/20/sheila-bair-why-i-recommend-tim-geithners-book/">Bair herself said she was fine with Geithner's characterizations of their disagreements</a>. But it's clear Geithner believes she made some serious tactical errors, including ones that remain a of the financial system today. 
The same privilege was not bestowed on Neil Barofksy, the former prosecutor appointed by Hank Paulson as the special inspector general for the troubled asset relief fund. In July of 2009, Barofsky released a report saying TARP had exposed taxpayers to $23.7 trillion in potential losses. This was merely the size of the market the government had backstopped. But for losses ever to mount that high would require every mortgage backed by Fannie and Freddie to default, and home prices to collapse to zero. Despite the absurdity of this claim, it got picked up in most media outlets. 
Geithner obliterates Barofsky for this claim, and his overall attitude in his role. "Barofsky's desire to prevent perfidy was untainted by financial knowledge or experience. He assumed our motives were self-evidently sinister, as if we had helped banks for fun and profit rather than to cure a metastasizing financial crisis." Geithner adds: "Hank Paulson apologized to me twice during our work together - once for initially failing to persuade the House to pass TARP, and once for bequeathing me Barofksy." Oh my god. 
<h2>7) About the housing programs</h2>
Geithner admits that the numbers he put out for how many homeowners could be helped by the HAMP and HARP relief programs were wildly off the mark. At one point they did consider granting permanent loan modifications to anyone with a trial mod, but decided against it as it would create too much opportunity for fraud, given everything that was coming out at the time about "no-doc loans" and "liar loans." The programs were also overly reliant on the same mortgage servicing industry that had caused the crisis - but there was no way Treasury would be able to create and hire for an agency to do it for them, Geithner said. Still, he argues Treasury successfully put a floor under home prices by ending the broader crisis, and that allowing values to start rising again did provide major relief.
<h2>8) Geithner left some figurative policy-men behind that he urges the administration to pick up. </h2>
Mainly, Dodd-Frank actually eliminated the FDIC's debt guarantee authority, as well as the Fed's ability to intervene with specific firms, as it did with Bear Stearns, AIG, Citi and BofA. "That power wouldn't be necessary if the FDIC still had broad guarantee authority, but losing both could be disastrous." For anyone who would say that such powers create moral hazard, Geithner quotes Stanley Fischer that "condoms don't cause sex." 
<h2>9) Reviewers of "Stress Test" are still hammering Geithner for not doing enough, and it's not clear they're fair</h2>
<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jul/10/geithner-does-he-pass-test/">Here's Paul Krugman:</a>
Geithner also makes some demonstrably false statements about the public debate over stimulus. "At the time," he declares, "$800 billion over two years was considered extraordinarily aggressive, twice as much as a group of 387 mostly left-leaning economists had just recommended in a public letter." Um, no. A number of economists, including Columbia's Joseph Stiglitz and myself, were warning that the package was too small; so was Romer, internally.
<a href="https://www.creditwritedowns.com/2014/05/tim-geithner-us-bailout-post-mortem.html">And here's Ed Harrison:</a>
I think the Geithner world view is heavily skewed by his having been surrounded by self-interested elites in New York and Washington who were understandably pleading their case, a case that was banking-centric and less focused on the competing interests of homeowners, wage earners and the voting public.
It's true that Geithner moved mountains to rescue the banks, and you can thus ague that he did not demonstrate the same force in getting a larger economic stimulus through Congress. But the crisis had the misfortune of occurring soon after an election. Geithner argues that "Politics ultimately determine what gets done" on fiscal policy, "and you can't afford to get bogged down in a protracted fight." Given what we see out of Congress these days, you're inclined to say it's amazing he got through anything at all.

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