America's Ten Most Corrupt Capitalists

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The financial crisis has unveiled a new set of public villains—corrupt corporate capitalists who leveraged their connections in government for their own personal profit. During the Clinton and Bush administrations, many of these schemers were worshiped as geniuses, heroes or icons of American progress. But today we know these opportunists for what they are: Deregulatory hacks hellbent on making a profit at any cost. Without further ado, here are the 10 most corrupt capitalists in the U.S. economy.

1. Robert Rubin

Where to start with a man like Robert Rubin? A Goldman Sachs chairman who wormed his way into the Treasury Secretary post under President Bill Clinton, Rubin presided over one of the most radical deregulatory eras in the history of finance. Rubin's influence within the Democratic Party marked the final stage in the Democrats' transformation from the concerned citizens who fought Wall Street and won during the 1930s to a coalition of Republican-lite financial elites.

Rubin's most stunning deregulatory accomplishment in office was also his greatest act of corruption. Rubin helped repeal Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era law that banned economically essential banks from gambling with taxpayer money in the securities markets. In 1998, Citibank inked a merger with the Travelers Insurance group. The deal was illegal under Glass-Steagall, but with Rubin's help, the law was repealed in 1999, and the Citi-Travelers merger approved, creating too-big-to-fail behemoth Citigroup.

That same year, Rubin left the government to work for Citi, where he made $120 million as the company piled up risk after crazy risk. In 2008, the company collapsed spectacularly, necessitating a $45 billion direct government bailout, and hundreds of billions more in other government guarantees. Rubin is now attempting to rebuild his disgraced public image by warning about the dangers of government spending and Social Security. Bob, if you're worried about the deficit, the problem isn't old people trying to get by, it's corrupt bankers running amok.

2. Alan Greenspan

The officially apolitical, independent Federal Reserve chairman backed all of Rubin's favorite deregulatory plans, and helped crush an effort by Brooksley Born to regulate derivatives in 1998, after the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management went bust. By the time Greenspan left office in 2006, the derivatives market had ballooned into a multi-trillion dollar casino, and Greenspan wanted his cut. He took a job with bond kings PIMCO and then with the hedge fund Paulson & Co.—yeah, that Paulson and Co., the one that colluded with Goldman Sachs to sabotage the company's own clients with unregulated derivatives.

Incidentally, this isn't the first time Greenspan has been a close associate of alleged fraudsters. Back in the 1980s, Greenspan went to bat for politically connected Savings & Loan titan Charles Keating, urging regulators to exempt his bank from a key rule. Keating later went to jail for fraud, after, among other things, putting out a hit on regulator William Black. ("Get Black – kill him dead.") Nice friends you've got, Alan.

3. Larry Summers

During the 1990s, Larry Summers was a top Treasury official tasked with overseeing the economic rehabilitation of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. This project, was, of course, a complete disaster that resulted in decades of horrific poverty. But that didn't stop top advisers to the program, notably Harvard economist Andrei Shleifer, from getting massively rich by investing his own money in Russian projects while advising both the Treasury and the Russian government. This is called "fraud," and a federal judge slapped both Shleifer and Harvard itself with hefty fines for their looting of the Russian economy. But somehow, after defrauding two governments while working for Summers, Shleifer managed to keep his job at Harvard, even after courts ruled against him.

That's because after the Clinton administration, Summers became president of Harvard, where he protected Shleifer. This wasn't the only crazy thing Summers did at Harvard—he also ran the school like a giant hedge fund, which went very well until markets crashed in 2008. By then, of course, Summers had left Harvard for a real hedge fund, D.E. Shaw, where he raked in $5.2 million working part-time. The next year, he joined the the Obama administration as the president's top economic adviser. Interestingly, the Wall Street reform bill currently circulating through Congress essentially leaves hedge funds untouched.

4. Phil and Wendy Gramm

Summers, Rubin and Greenspan weren't the only people who thought it was a good idea to let banks gamble in the derivatives casinos. In 2000, Republican Senator from Texas Phil Gramm pushed through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which not only banned federal regulation of these toxic poker chips, it also banned states from enforcing anti-gambling laws against derivatives trading. The bill was lobbied for heavily by energy/finance hybrid Enron, which would later implode under fraudulent derivatives trades. In 2000, when Phil Gramm pushed the bill through, his wife Wendy Gramm was serving on Enron's board of directors, where she made millions before the company went belly-up.

When Phil Gramm left the Senate, he took a job peddling political influence at Swiss banking giant UBS as vice chairman. Since Gramm's arrival, UBS has been embroiled in just about every scandal you can think of, from securities fraud to tax fraud to diamond smuggling. Interestingly, both UBS shareholders and their executives have gotten off rather lightly for these acts. The only person jailed thus far has been the tax fraud whistleblower. Looks like Phil's earning his keep.

5. Jamie Dimon

J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has done a lot of scummy things as head of one of the world's most powerful banks, but his most grotesque act of corruption actually took place at the Federal Reserve. At each of the Fed's 12 regional offices, the board of directors is staffed by officials from the region's top banks. So while it's certainly galling that the CEO of J.P. Morgan would be on the board of the New York Fed, one of J.P. Morgan's regulators, it's not all that uncommon.

But it is quite uncommon for a banker to be negotiating a bailout package for his bank with the New York Fed, while simultaneously serving on the New York Fed board. That's what happened in March 2008, when J.P. Morgan agreed to buy up Bear Stearns, on the condition that the Fed kick in $29 billion to cushion the company from any losses. Dimon-- CEO of J.P. Morgan and board member of the New York Fed-- was negotiating with Timothy Geithner, who was president of the New York Fed-- about how much money the New York Fed was going to give J.P. Morgan. On Wall Street, that's called being a savvy businessman. Everywhere else, it's called a conflict of interest.

6. Stephen Friedman

The New York Fed is just full of corruption. Consider the case of Stephen Friedman (expertly presented by Greg Kaufmann for the Nation). As the financial crisis exploded in the fall of 2008, Friedman was serving both as chairman of the New York Fed and on the board of directors at Goldman Sachs. The Fed stepped in to prevent AIG from collapsing in September 2008, and by November, the New York Fed had decided to pay all of AIG's counterparties 100 cents on the dollar for AIG's bets—even though these companies would have taken dramatic losses in bankruptcy. The public wouldn't learn which banks received this money until March 2009, but Friedman bought 52,600 shares of Goldman stock in December 2008 and January 2009, more than doubling his holdings.

As it turns out, Goldman was the top beneficiary of the AIG bailout, to the tune of $12.9 billion. Friedman made millions on the Goldman stock purchase, and is yet to disclose what he knew about where the AIG money was going, or when he knew it. Either way, it's pretty bad—if he knew Goldman benefited from the bailout, then he belongs in jail. If he didn't know, then what exactly was he doing as chairman of the New York Fed, or on Goldman's board?

7. Robert Steel

Like better-known corruptocrats Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson, Steel joined the Treasury after spending several years as a top executive with Goldman Sachs. Steel joined the Treasury in 2006 as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, and proceeded to do, well, nothing much until financial markets went into free-fall in 2008. When Wachovia ousted CEO Ken Thompson, the company named Steel as its new CEO. Steel promptly bought one million Wachovia shares to demonstrate his commitment to the firm, but by September, Wachovia was in dire straits. The FDIC wanted to put the company through receivership—shutting it down and wiping out its shareholders.

But Steel's buddies at Treasury and the Fed intervened, and instead of closing Wachovia, they arranged a merger with Wells Fargo at $7 a share—saving Steel himself $7 million. He now serves on Wells Fargo's board of directors.

8. Henry Paulson

His time at Goldman Sachs made Henry Paulson one of the richest men in the world. Under Paulson's leadership, Goldman transformed from a private company ruled by client relationships into a public company operating as a giant global casino. As Treasury Secretary during the height of the financial crisis, Paulson personally approved a direct $10 billion capital injection into his former firm.

But even before that bailout, Paulson had been playing fast and loose with ethics rules. In June 2008, Paulson held a secret meeting in Moscow with Goldman's board of directors, where they discussed economic prognostications, market conditions and Treasury rescue plans. Not okay, Hank.

9. Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett used to be a reasonable guy, blasting the rich for waging "class warfare" against the rest of us and deriding derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction." These days, he's just another financier crony, lobbying Congress against Wall Street reform, and demanding a light touch on—get this—derivatives! Buffet even went so far as to buy the support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, for a filibuster on reform. Buffett has also been an outspoken defender of Goldman Sachs against the recent SEC fraud allegations, allegations that stem from fancy products called "synthetic collateralized debt obligations"—the financial weapons of mass destruction Buffett once criticized.

See, it just so happens that both Buffet's reputation and his bottom line are tied to an investment he made in Goldman Sachs in 2008, when he put $10 billion of his money into the bank. Buffett has acknowledged that he only made the deal because he believed Goldman would be bailed out by the U.S. government. Which, in fact, turned out to be the case, multiple times. When the government rescued AIG, the $12.9 billion it funneled to Goldman was to cover derivatives bets Goldman had placed with the mega-insurer. Buffett was right about derivatives—they are WMD so far as the real economy is concerned. But they've enabled Warren Buffett to get even richer with taxpayer help, and now he's fighting to make sure we don't shut down his own casino.

10. Goldman Sachs

No company exemplifies the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington more than Goldman Sachs. The four people on this list are some of the worst offenders, but Goldman's D.C. army has includes many other top officials in this administration and the last.

White House:

Joshua Bolton, chief of staff for George W. Bush, was a Goldman man

Regulators:

Current New York Fed President William Dudley is a Goldman man

Current Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has been a responsible regulator under Obama, but he was a deregulatory hawk during the Clinton years, and worked at Goldman for nearly two decades before that.

A top aide to Timothy Geithner, Gene Sperling, is a Goldman man

Current Treasury Undersecretary Robert Hormats is a Goldman man

Current Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson is a former Goldman lobbyist

Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt is now a Goldman adviser

Neel Kashkari, Henry Paulson's deputy on TARP, was a Goldman man

COO of the SEC Enforcement Division Adam Storch is a Goldman man

Congress:

Former Sen. John Corzine, D-N.J., was Goldman's CEO before Henry Paulson

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., was a Goldman Vice President before he ran for Congress

Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., now lobbies for Goldman

Our alphabetical list:

Joshua Bolten

Government: President George W. Bush's Chief of Staff from 2006-2009; Director of Office of Management and Budget from 2003-2006; White House Deputy Chief of Staff from January 20, 2001 - June 2003.

Goldman: Executive Director of Legal Affairs for Goldman based in London aka the bank's chief lobbyist to the EU from 1994-1999.

Kenneth D. Brody

Government: President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (1993-1996).

Goldman: Former general partner and member of the Management Committee at Goldman Sachs where he worked from 1971-1991.

Kathleen Brown

Government: Former California State Treasurer

Goldman: Senior Advisor responsible for Public Finance, Western Region.

Mark Carney

Government: Governor of the Bank of Canada since 2008.

Goldman: Mr. Carney had a thirteen-year career with Goldman Sachs in its London, Tokyo, New York, and Toronto offices. His progressively senior positions included Co-Head of Sovereign Risk; Executive Director, Emerging Debt Capital Markets; and Managing Director, Investment Banking. He started at Goldman in 1995.

Robert Cogorno

Government: Former Gephardt aide and one-time floor director for Steny Hoyer (D-MD.), the No. 2 House Democrat.

Goldman: Works for [Steve] Elmendorf Strategies, which lobbies for Goldman.

Kenneth Connolly

Government: Staff Director of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee 2001-2006.

Goldman: Vice President at Goldman from June 2008 - present.

E. Gerald Corrigan

Government: President of the New York Fed from 1985 to 1993.

Goldman: Joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and currently is a partner and managing director; he was also appointed chairman of GS Bank USA, the firm's holding company, in September 2008.

Jon Corzine

Government: Governor of New Jersey from 2006-2010; U.S. Senator from 2001-2006 where he served on the Banking and Budget Committees.

Goldman: Former Goldman CEO. Worked at Goldman from 1975-1998.

Gavyn Davies

Government: Former chairman of the BBC from 2001 -2004.

Goldman: Chief Economist at Goldman where he worked from 1986-2001.

Paul Dighton

Government: Chief executive of the London Operating Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

Goldman: Former COO of Goldman where he worked for 22 years beginning in 1983.

Mario Draghi

Government: Head [Governor] of the Bank of Italy since January 2006.

Goldman: Vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee from 2002-2005.

William Dudley

Government: President Federal Reserve Bank of New York City (2009-present)

Goldman: Partner and Managing Director. Worked at Goldman from 1986-2007.

Steven Elmendorf

Government: Senior Advisor to then-House minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

Goldman: Now runs his own lobbying firm, where Goldman is one of his clients.

Dina Farrell

Government: Deputy Director, National Economic Council, Obama Administration since January 2009.

Goldman: Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs from 1987-1989.

Edward C. Forst

Government: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson in 2008.

Goldman: Former Global Head of the Investment Management Division at Goldman where he worked from 1994-2008.

Randall M. Fort

Government: Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research from November 2006-Jan 2009.

Goldman: Director of Global Security 1996-2006.

Henry H. Fowler

Government: Secretary of the Treasury from 1965-1968.

Goldman: After leaving the Treasury Department, Fowler joined Goldman Sachs in New York City as a partner.

Stephen Friedman

Government: Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and of the Intelligence Oversight Board; Chairman Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2008- 2009; former director of Bush's National Economic Council. Economic Advisor to President Bush from 2002-2004.

Goldman: Former Co-Chairman at Goldman Sachs and still a member of their board. Joined Goldman in 1966

Gary Gensler

Government: Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission since 2009; Undersecretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2001; Assistant Secretary to the Treasury from 1997-1999.

Goldman: Former Co-head of Finance for Goldman Sachs worldwide. Worked at Goldman from 1979-1997.

Lord Brian Griffiths

Government: Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from 1985 to 1990.

Goldman: International Advisor since 1991.

Jim Himes

Government: Congressman from Connecticut (on Committee on Financial Services) since 2009. Goldman: Began working at Goldman in 1990 and was eventually promoted to Vice President.

Robert D. Hormats

Government: Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs-designate since July 2009; Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business affairs from 1981 to 1982.

Goldman: Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs & Co. He worked at Goldman Sachs from 1982-2009.

Chris Javens

Government: Ex-tax policy adviser to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.

Goldman: Now lobbies for Goldman.

Reuben Jeffery III

Government: Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs from 2007-2009; Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2005-2007.

Goldman: Former Managing Partner of Goldman Sachs Paris Office. Worked at Goldman Sachs from 1983-2001.

Dan Jester

Government: Former Treasury Advisor.

Goldman: Former Goldman Executive.

James Johnson

Government: Selected to serve on Obama's Vice Presidential section committee but stepped down.

Goldman: Board of Director of Goldman Sachs since May 1999.

Richard Gephardt

Government: U.S. Representative (1977 to 2005);

Goldman: President and CEO, Gephardt Government Affairs (since 2007). Hired by Goldman to represent its interests on issues related to TARP.

Neel Kashkari

Government: Interim head, Treasury's Office of Financial Stability from October 2008-May 2009; Assistant Secretary for International Economics (confirmed in summer 2008) Special assistant to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson from 2006-2008.

Goldman: Vice President at Goldman Sachs from 2002-2006.

Lori E Laudien

Government: Former counsel for the Senate Finance Committee in 1996-1997.

Goldman: Lobbyist for Goldman since 2005.

Arthur Levitt

Government: Chairman, SEC 1993-200;

Goldman: Advisor to Goldman Sachs (June 2009- present).

Philip Murphy

Government: U.S. Ambassador to Germany since 2009.

Goldman: Former Senior Director of Goldman Sachs where he worked from 1983-2006.

Michael Paese

Government: Top Staffer to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. Goldman: Director of Government Affairs/Lobbyist (2009)

Mark Patterson

Government: Treasury Department Chief of Staff since February 2009.

Goldman: Lobbyist for Goldman Sachs from 2003-2008.

Henry "Hank" Paulson

Government: Secretary of the Treasury from March 2006 to January 2009; White House Domestic Council, serving as Staff Assistant to the President from 1972 to 1973; Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon from 1970 to 1972.

Goldman: Former Goldman Sachs CEO. Worked at Goldman from 1974-2006.

Romano Prodi

Government: Two time prime minister of Italy.

Goldman: From March 1990 to May 1993 and when not in public office, Mr. Prodi acted as a consultant to Goldman Sachs.

Steve Shafran

Government: Adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Goldman: Worked at Goldman from 1993- 2000.

Sonal Shah

Government: Director, Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation (April 2009); advisory board member Obama-Biden transition Project; former previously held a variety of positions in the Treasury Department from 1995 to early 2002.

Goldman: Vice President 2004-2007.

Faryar Shirzad

Government: Served on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House from March 2003 -August 2006; Assistant Secretary for Import Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Bush Administration.

Goldman: Global head of government affairs (Lobbyist) since 2006.

Robert K. Steel

Government: Under Secretary for Domestic Finance of the United States Treasury from 2006-08. Goldman: Former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs where he worked from 1976-2004.

Adam Storch

Government: COO of the SEC's Enforcement Division (October 2009-present). He was 29 years old at the time of his appointment.

Goldman: Former Vice President at Goldman Sachs where he worked from 2004-2009.

Richard Y. Roberts

Government: Former SEC commissioner from 1990 to 1995.

Goldman: Now working as a principal at RR&G LLC, which was hired by Goldman to lobby on TARP.

Robert Rubin

Government: Treasury Secretary from 1995-1999; Chairman of the National Economic Council from 1993-1995.

Goldman: Former Co-Chairman at Goldman Sachs where he worked from 1966-1992.

John Thain

Government: CEO President of NYSE (2004-07)

Goldman: President and Co- Chief Operating Officer from 1999-2004.

Marti Thomas

Government: Assistant Secretary in Legal Affairs and Public Policy in 2000. Treasury Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax and Budget from 1998-1999; Executive Floor Assistant to Dick Gephardt from 1989-1998.

Goldman: Joined Goldman as the Federal Legislative Affairs Leader from 2007-2009.

Massimo Tononi

Government: Italian deputy treasury chief from 2006-2008.

Goldman: Former Partner at Goldman Sachs from 2004 - 2006.

Malcolm Turnbull

Government: Member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004.

Goldman: Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Australia from 1997-2001 and Partner with Goldman Sachs and Co from 1998-2001.

Sidney Weinberg

Government: Served as Vice-Chair for FDR's War Production Board during World War II. Goldman: Worked at Goldman from 1907-1969, eventually becoming CEO after starting as a $3-a-week janitor's assistant.

Kendrick Wilson

Government: Advisor to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Goldman: Senior investment banker at Goldman where he worked from 1998- 2008.

Robert Zoellick

Government: President of the World Bank since 2007.

Goldman: Vice Chairman, International of the Goldman Sachs Group, and a Managing Director and Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Board of International Advisors (2006-07)