Hank Paulson Held A Secret Meeting With Goldman Sachs In MoscowJohn CarneyBusiness Insider Oct. 22, 2009 |
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During that long summer between the collapse of Bear Stearns and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Hank Paulson held a secret meeting with the board of Goldman Sachs in Moscow. Andrew Ross Sorkin tells the tale of the meeting in his new book, Too Big To Fail: When Paulson learned that Goldman’s board would be in Moscow at the same time as him, he had [Treasury chief of staff] Jim Wilkinson organize a meeting with them. Nothing formal, purely social — for old times’ sake.Felix Salmon has the appropriate reaction: How on earth did Paulson think this was OK? Goldman Sachs was a hugely powerful for-profit investment bank, and there he is, giving private chapter and verse on his opinions about the US and global economy, talking about internal Treasury matters, and previewing an upcoming (and surely market-moving) speech. All in secret, at a “social event” which somehow got kept off his official calendar. Oh, yes, and one other thing — the whole shebang took place in the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, in the context of Goldman directors joking about how all the Moscow hotels were surely bugged.You might recall that trip to Russia. It was a disaster. Paulson had gone to encourage Russian investment in the US economy, which was rapidly sliding into a recession. He wound up just being mocked by Russian officials. Here's how Reuters described the debacle: Paulson, who is in Russia to discuss trade and investment, told Putin the United States welcomes Russian investment and both sides were working together to outline best practices for SWFs, owned by governments of cash-rich countries. |