Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Another Dem Fundraiser Goes Down | Steve Rattner has some company today: One more prominent Upper East Side financier and Democratic mega-fundraiser is now facing an embarrassing financial scandal. Hassan Nemazee, who served as the New York finance chairman for John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004 and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton and, later, Barack Obama, was arrested on charges he "tricked" Citigroup into lending him as much as $74 million using phony documents. Nemazee was charged with one count of bank fraud and is expected to appear in federal court this afternoon. Although judging by some of Nemazee's shady political tactics over the years, it's possible that this wasn't first time he's forged a document or two. [Bloomberg]

In this week's issue of New York, Steve Fishman covers the spectacular rise—and spectacular fall—of Steve Rattner, the uber-ambitious financial titan who was tapped to serve as President Obama's car czar but was ultimately forced to leave Washington in shame after he became embroiled in the corruption scandal involving state pension money.  More

• Bad news for NBC Universal: second-quarter profits dropped by 41%. [MW]
• Good news for NBC News: Susan Boyle's first in-depth TV interview will take place with Meredith Vieira on the Today show next Wednesday. [NYT]
• Alpha Media, the company that owns Maxim (and used to own Blender and Stuff)—and which was sold to Steve Rattner's Quadrangle Group in 2007—has changed hands again: Steve Feinberg's Cerberus now runs the show. [NYP]
• Rumor has it Pamela Fiori may be leaving Town & Country. [P6]
• Bonnie Fuller is taking over Hollywood Life, the website controlled by Jay Penske, who owns Movieline and recently bought out Nikki Finke. [NYT]
• More Finke: Days after the LA Times ran an article on Hollywood's most powerful blogger comes pretty much the same piece in the NY Times. [NYT]
• All that bad press for CNBC a few months ago must have refocused the network on the things that matter, right? Nope. [Gawker, Zero Hedge]More

Rattner Loses Again | Poor Steve Rattner. As if it wasn't bad enough that he's embroiled in a scandal over pension fund bribes, may face criminal charges for his role in the scheme, and was forced to step down as President Obama's "car czar" earlier this week, comes the news that he paid $4.35 million for house in D.C. just two months ago. [peHUB]

Rattner Under Pressure | Financier Steve Rattner resigned as "car czar" on Monday to spend more time with his family. You didn't believe that excuse, of course. But now we have a better idea of what it was that ultimately brought Rattner's DC stint to an end. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been trying to reach a settlement with Rattner over charges his private equity firm paid bribes to state officials to secure investments from the state pension fund. But a deal hasn't been reached yet, it seems, so "Cuomo's investigation of Rattner has 'intensified' in recent weeks." Let's hope Rattner comes to his senses and works something out with Cuomo. He may not have a job in Washington any longer, but Hollywood is still waiting with baited breath for Rattner to live up to his true potential. [Reuters]

Rattner Nudged Out the Door | It's the of the line for Steve Rattner, the high-profile financier who once managed Michael Bloomberg's fortune, was once rumored to be a candidate for Treasury secretary, but ended up with responsibility for President Obama's auto task force instead. Back in April, the private equity firm that Rattner co-founded, Quadrangle Group, was tied to the pension kickback scheme now under investigation by Andrew Cuomo; now comes word that Rattner is out of a job and heading back home: "The administration said Mr. Rattner decided to return to private life and his family in New York City." [WSJ]

• The market is kicking off the week on a positive note. [CNN, WSJ]
• The investigation into Bernie Madoff's scheme is now focused on some of his biggest investors: Jeffry Picower, Stanley Chais, and Carl Shapiro. [WSJ]
• Bradley Ruderman, the founder of LA-based Ruderman Capital Partners, has been arrested and is charged with bilking investors out of $44 million. [DB]
• Steve Rattner is making waves again, although it has nothing to do with the unfolding pension fund scandal. It's his construction of a $15 million summer home on Martha's Vineyard that is now angering neighbors. [P6] More

• President Obama will propose new laws today to crack down on companies and wealthy individuals who use a variety of tax loopholes to move their assets offshore and avoid paying taxes. [WSJ, BN]
• Citigroup and Bank of America are both rumored to be working on plans to raise more than $10 billion in fresh capital a piece, although Bank of America is now denying that such a plan is underway. [FT, DB, BI]
• Questions are being raised about New York Fed chairman Stephen Friedman's ties to Goldman Sachs and possible conflicts of interest. [WSJ]More

Busy Week At the Attorney General's Office | Andrew Cuomo revealed this morning that his office has issued more than 100 subpoenas as he ramps up the investigation into possible kickbacks paid to political figures to obtain pension fund business. Unfortunately, he's still playing coy when it comes to giving up any specifics. He refused to list any of the firms that received subpoenas today. Yesterday, when a reporter asked him if car czar Steve Rattner would eventually be charged for his role in the unfolding scandal—five other people have been indicted thus far—he said to  "stay tuned." In other words, put a new bag of popcorn in the microwave and get comfy. He's going to be here for awhile. [NYT, AP]

• John Thain is striking back at Bank of America in an effort "to restore his sullied reputation," and accusing BofA's CEO, Ken Lewis, of lying. [WSJ]
• Thanks to rising profits, employees at several banks are on track to earn as much money this year as they did before the financial crisis. [NYT]
• UBS's head of investment banking, Jerker Johansson, is stepping down. [DB]
• Steve Rattner caught a break on Friday when Quadrangle Group investors decided not to shut down his scandal-plagued fund. [NYT, NYP] More

• After a two-month wait, the nation's 19 largest banks will start to hear today how they did on those stress tests conducted by Washington regulators. [NYT]
• If the test indicates Citigroup will need more money to stay afloat, Vikram Pandit can probably kiss his job as the bank's CEO goodbye. [NYP]
• Andrew Cuomo is urging federal regulators to investigate allegations that Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke applied pressure to Bank of America chief Ken Lewis to go ahead with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. [WSJ, NYT, CNN]
• Chrysler is preparing to file for Chapter 11 as soon as next week. [WSJ]

Steve Rattner may eventually face civil and/or criminal charges in connection with an alleged kickback scheme involving his investment firm, Quadrangle Group. Many suspect it's just a matter of time before the scandal forces President Obama to oust him as his point man on the auto industry bailout. There's speculation he'll face repercussions from Quadrangle investors as a result of the saga. And even if he manages to avoid any serious legal consequences, there's no question his rep has taken a big blow. But he has one person on his side: Michael Bloomberg! More

• Morgan Stanley reported a larger-than-expected loss for the first quarter this morning. The bank reported it lost $177 million, down from the $1.41 billion profit it collected during the same period in 2008. [WSJ, NYT, BN]
• David Kellermann, the chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, was found dead in his Virginia home, the result of an apparent suicide. [WaPo, BN]
• Things have gone from bad to worse for Steve Rattner: New York City's comptroller is investigating whether Quadrangle "intentionally misled or deceived" city pension funds by failing to disclose finder's fees. [WSJ]More

It's a good thing financier Steve Rattner only (allegedly) invested in movies to (allegedly) bribe state officials, and not because he thought he had a talent for picking quality films. The trailer for Chooch, the movie that Rattner (allegedly) paid $88,000 to obtain the distribution rights for, couldn't be more painful to watch. Of course, Rattner's decision to (allegedly) buy the DVD rights to the movie did help his Quadrangle Group allegedly rope in a $100 million investment from the New York state pension fund, not that means very much now that the (alleged) scheme has been exposed and the payments are under investigation. But it's a good thing they don't prosecute people for crimes against culture or Rattner would really be in trouble right now.

It looks like someone's evening was just ruined: Steve Rattner, the high-profile financier who was responsible for managing Michael Bloomberg's fortune until recently, and who now heads up the Obama administration's auto task force, is reportedly one of the executives who has been tied to the alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, according to "a person familiar with the matter" who spoke with the the Wall Street Journal.More