NYMag: TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky Puts the Treasury Secretary on Notice

[chill_wind]

* 4/28/10 at 12:49 PM


TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky Puts the Treasury Secretary on Notice


Back in January when we had lunch with TARP Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky, we got the sense he didn't much like Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He'd only met him once but he didn't like the smell of him, and not just because he associated it with the backed-up sewage that flooded the SIGTARP offices when it was housed in the basement of the Treasury building. "He seems not unlike how you write about him," he said. (He had just read this.) Today, Bloomberg reports that Barofsky is zeroing in on Geithner's actions as president of the New York Fed, particularly relating to the deal the Fed under his watch made with banks holding CDS insurance with AIG, and their alleged attempts to cover up said deal.

Barofsky says the question of whether the New York Fed engaged in a coverup will result in some sort of action.

“We’re either going to have criminal or civil charges against individuals or we’re going to have a report,” Barofsky says. “This is too important for us not to share our findings.”

He won’t say whether the investigation is targeting Geithner personally.

In a statement, the New York Fed said: “Allegations that the New York Fed engaged in a coverup of its intervention in AIG are not true. The New York Fed has fully cooperated with the Special Inspector General.”

No comment from the former Treasury secretary, but we sure bet he regrets putting this guy in the basement.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/04/tarp_watchdog_neil_barofsky_pu.html

More here:

Barofsky Says Criminal Charges Possible in Alleged AIG Coverup

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVHMZwNcj2B0&pos=10

DU threads:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x78220

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x78185

[chill_wind]

1. And not only is he coordinating with the SEC

on the possible cover-up, but he's also looking into possible insider trader charges connected to TARP.

“I’ve been in contact with the SEC,” he told the committee. “We’re going to coordinate with them, but we’re going to lead the charge. We’re going to review these transactions.”

Barofsky and Geithner’s offices have gone toe-to-toe over AIG, alleged lax oversight of TARP funds and even over the question of whom Barofsky reports to.

Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor who was once the target of a kidnapping plot by Colombian drug traffickers, says he’s also looking into possible insider trading connected to TARP. He says his agency would want to know if bankers bought stock in their companies before it was made public that their institutions would get TARP money, for example.

Barofsky: “This Treasury Department and the previous Treasury Department bear some of the responsibility for not being straightforward with the American people.”

[Demeter]

2. Oh Please, Please Please!

I'll give up all hope of a life companion if Timmy gets cuffed and striped.

[chill_wind]

3. I hear you. What I like about this

is that they are now in the sites of a double barrel-- it doesn't sound like Barofsky intends to leave this all to the SEC. It does sound like he smells a very large rat.

When he talks about how there was too much secrecy and appearances of a cover up, he can't be liking examples like this- reported in January.


SEC mulled allowing national security status for AIG details (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60N1S220100124