News & Analysis

SEC allows Steven Rattner to return to investment banking

The former private equity professional, who worked at Quadrangle Group for nearly a decade, was accused of kickbacks with the NYS Common Retirement Fund in 2010.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved an application from Steven Rattner to return to Guggenheim Securities and work as an investment banking representative.

The former private equity professional, who worked at Quadrangle Group between 2000 and 2009, was prohibited from working with any broker, dealer or investment advisor and was forced to pay a multimillion fine in a December 2010 judgment.

The judgment was based on an SEC complaint alleging that in 2005 and 2006, Rattner secured a $150 million investment from the New York State Common Retirement Fund for a Quadrangle private equity fund only after arranging a kickback for the pension plan.

Rattner allegedly arranged for a Quadrangle affiliate to distribute the DVD of a film that the then-New York State Comptroller, David Loglisci, produced with his brothers, and also allegedly paid more than $1 million in purported finder fees to Henry Morris, the top political advisor and chief of fundraising for the then-New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Rattner is currently the chairman of Willett Advisors, which invests the personal assets of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and those of the Bloomberg Family Foundation. There, he oversees the investment team, but Willett is not registered as an investment advisor with any state nor with the SEC.

With the new authorization from the SEC, Rattner can pursue investment banking work at Guggenheim as requested, including advising media industry investment banking clients. 

However, the SEC approval requires heightened supervision of Rattner while at Guggenheim. Additionally, Rattner is not allowed to directly or indirectly solicit, receive or manage investments from any public pension funds and will not appear in any capacity before any public pension fund.

Rattner also served as counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury during the global financial crisis and led the Obama Administration’s efforts to restructure the US auto industry. He formed Quadrangle in 2000.