Goldman Sachs VP Changed Name, Now a Top Congressional Staffer
August 19th, 2011Via: Think Progress:
Has Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) turned the House Oversight Committee into a bank lobbying firm with the power to subpoena and pressure government regulators? ThinkProgress has found that a Goldman Sachs vice president changed his name, then later went to work for Issa to coordinate his effort to thwart regulations that affect Goldman Sachs’ bottom line.
In July, Issa sent a letter to top government regulators demanding that they back off and provide more justification for new margin requirements for financial firms dealing in derivatives. A standard practice on Capitol Hill is to end a letter to a government agency with contact information for the congressional staffer responsible for working on the issue for the committee. In most cases, the contact staffer is the one who actually writes such letters. With this in mind, it is important to note that the Issa letter ended with contact information for Peter Haller, a staffer hired this year to work for Issa on the Oversight Committee.
Issa’s demand to regulators is exactly what banks have been wishing for. Indeed, Goldman Sachs has spent millions this year trying to slow down the implementation of the new rules. In the letter, Issa explicitly mentions that the new derivative regulations might hurt brokers “such as Goldman Sachs.”
Haller, as he is now known, went by the name Peter Simonyi until three years ago. Simonyi adopted his mother’s maiden name Haller in 2008 shortly after leaving Goldman Sachs as a vice president of the bank’s commodity compliance group. In a few short years, Haller went from being in charge of dealing with regulators for Goldman Sachs to working for Congress in a position where he made official demands from regulators overseeing his old firm.
Good catch Kevin.
I had to go get a refill on my adult beverage on reading this one.
Seems that Goldman Sachs peoples have crossed the line of human kindess so many times.
I think GS humans are going to be uh, fodder for the next revolution and they aren’t going to fare well. Stuff like off with their heads, etc. I don’t know.
Somewhere here down the road to our future, there is lots of karma that needs resolving at Goldman Sachs. Lots.
This greed crap is going to kill their mostly innocent people, just trying to keep a day job.
But the “tone at the top” of this place is sending vibes out into the universe that are SOO TWISTED.
Am anticipating a shitstorm. All of those bundled mortgage securities that the S&P gave their best rating to. There is some mighty shit going down. Yessirree. And my gosh, I think we’re going to witness Goldman Sachs going down in flames. Don’t think we’re going to party when GS goes down though. Hopefully, we’ll get over it and not have the need for a self pity party.