9 Wall Street Execs Who Cashed in on the Boom—and the Bust

Plus: the former Wall Street bankers that Obama picked for his team.


Legend

After Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley announced hefty profits in the fall of 2009, the Obama administration’s pay czar said that he’d cap pay at Citigroup, Bank of America, and five other bailed-out companies. The move was largely symbolic: It capped salaries for only 25 executives, kept big stock bonuses in place, and did nothing to address the culture of rewarding folks who sowed our economic destruction. Below, some of the players who made out like bandits during the bubble and the bailout.

CLICK ON EACH WALL STREET EXEC BELOW TO SEE THEIR COMPENSATION MEASURED AGAINST THEIR FIRM’S BAILOUT

Joseph Cassano

Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products Executive, 1987-2008

AIG

CLAIM TO FAME: Mr. Credit-Default Swap. In 2008, his unit cost AIG $99 billion. (AIG then paid $1.5 billion in bonuses and awards.)

QUOTE: Before the crash: “It is hard for us…to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing $1 in any of those transactions.”

HIS BONUS, 2008: $34 million

HIS HAUL, 2000-2008: $280 million

AIG’S TARP: $69.8 billion

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $112 billion

Vikram Pandit

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup CEO, 2007-present

Citigroup

CLAIM TO FAME: Ordered a $50 million private jet, announced huge layoffs, and jacked up credit card APRs—after getting bailed out

QUOTE: Told Congress last February, “My salary should be $1 per year with no bonus.” Didn’t mention that he took $1.6 million in stock options as Citi lost $18.7 billion in 2008.

HIS HAUL, 2008: $10.8 million

Robert Rubin

Robert Rubin, Citigroup Board of Directors, 1999-2009

Citigroup

CLAIM TO FAME: As Clinton’s treasury secretary, he pushed to overturn regulations prohibiting finance-bank hybrids such as…Citigroup. QUOTE: Wishes he could have reined in Citi but “I don’t know what I could have done” as just a board member.

HIS HAUL, 1999-2009: $124 million

CITI’S TARP: $45 billion ($20 billion repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $328.7 billion

Ken Lewis

Ken Lewis, Bank of America CEO and President, 2001-2009

Bank of America

CLAIM TO FAME: Okayed $3.6 billion of Merrill Lynch bonuses when buying the troubled firm. Said he’d return $1 million in past earnings, but still gets a $53 million pension.

QUOTE: He’s against regulating “the banks that caused this mess” because they’d been “held accountable by the toughest, most unforgiving master of all: the free market.”

HIS HAUL, 2008: $10 million

HIS HAUL, 2001-2007: $145 million

B of A’s TARP: $45 billion (repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $18.1 billion

Jaimie Dimon

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO and President, 2005-present

JP Morgan

CLAIM TO FAME: Cutting comments (“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!”) and cutting perks (“You’re a businessman. Pay for your own Wall Street Journal.”)

QUOTE: Over lunch at the Four Seasons: “Corporations can waste a tremendous amount of money. It’s destructive. It’s wrong.”

HIS HAUL, 2008: $19.7 million

HIS HAUL, 2005-2007: $95.7 million

JPMC’S TARP: $25 billion (repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $73.1 billion

Lloyd Blankfein

Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman, 2006-present

Goldman Sachs

CLAIM TO FAME: Oversaw Goldman’s risky bets on the housing bubble, then turned the investment firm into a bank so it could get TARP money

QUOTE: Says the financial industry looks “self-serving and greedy in hindsight” but that he’s been “doing God’s work.”

HIS HAUL, 2008: $42.9 million

HIS HAUL, 2006-2007: $114.4 million

GOLDMAN’S TARP: $10 billion (repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $43.4 billion

John G. Stumpf

John G. Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO, 2007-2010 and Chairman, 2010-present

Wells Fargo

CLAIM TO FAME: Made a tidy $12.6 million in first six months on the job

QUOTE: Asked before Congress about his 2007 pay, he conceded that he’d gotten $67 million in stock—but “at the values that pertained in 2007, which wouldn’t look familiar to you now.”

HIS HAUL, 2008: $13.8 million

WELLS’ TARP: $25 billion (repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $13.4 billion

John J. Mack

John J. Mack, Morgan Stanley CEO, 2005-2009, and Chairman, 2005-present

Morgan Stanley

CLAIM TO FAME: Earned the sobriquet Mack the Knife by slashing jobs. His battle cry: “There’s blood in the water; let’s go kill!”

QUOTE: Told Congress, “If you gave me no bonus in the best year, I would still be here,” but later griped that smaller post-bust bonuses led to “an exodus of key people.”

HIS HAUL, 2008: $1.2 million

HIS HAUL, 2005-2007: $77.7 million

MORGAN’S TARP: $10 billion (repaid)

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $25.9 billion

John Thain

John Thain, Merrill Lynch CEO, 2007-2009

Merrill Lynch

CLAIM TO FAME: Asked for a $10 million-plus bonus as Merrill lost $27.6 billion in 2008. Then redid his office for $1.2 million and approved bonuses all around. As the firm’s hidden debts nearly scuttled its sale to B of A, he headed to Vail.

QUOTE: Bonuses were “the right thing to do for…the reward of the people who were performing.”

HIS HAUL, 2007: $83.1 million

MERRILL’S TARP: $10 billion

ADDITIONAL BAILOUT: $6.8 billion

 

Henhouse, Meet Fox

The bankers on Obama’s team.

GOLDMAN SACHS CEO turned Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson wasn’t the first, or the last, to use the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. Here’s a short list of current and former Obama officials who got their start in the private sector—many, like Paulson, at “Government Sachs.”

OFFICIAL

ROLE IN WASHINGTON

PREVIOUS ROLE ON WALL STREET

Neal Wolin

Deputy secretary of the treasury (Tim Geithner’s No. 2)

Exec at one of the largest insurance and investment firms

Mark Patterson

Treasury secretary’s chief of staff

Goldman Sachs lobbyist

Gene Sperling

Director of the National Economic Council

Made nearly $900,000 advising Goldman Sachs

Larry Summers

Obama’s chief economic adviser

Made $5 million as managing director of a hedge fund

Rahm Emanuel

White House chief of staff

Made $16 million as a partner at a Chicago investment bank

Herbert Allison

Assistant secretary of the treasury (oversees TARP)

Longtime exec at Merrill Lynch; headed Fannie Mae

Kim Wallace

Assistant secretary of the treasury for legislative affairs

Managing director at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers

Karthik Ramanathan

Acting assistant treasury secretary for financial markets

Foreign exchange dealer at Goldman Sachs

Matthew Kabaker

Deputy assistant secretary of the treasury

Made $5.8 million at the Blackstone Group in 2008-2009

Lewis Alexander

Counselor to the treasury secretary

Chief economist at Citigroup; paid $2.4 million in 2008-2009

Adam Storch

Managing executive of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement

VP of Goldman Sachs’ Business Intelligence Group

Lee Sachs

Counselor to the treasury secretary

Made more than $3 million at a New York hedge fund

Gary Gensler

Chairman of Commodity Futures Trading Commission

18 years at Goldman Sachs, where he made partner

Michael Froman

Deputy assistant to Obama, deputy nat’l security adviser

Managing director of a Citigroup investment arm

These tables first appeared in the January/February 2010 issue of Mother Jones.

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We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

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