When he was New York’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo had a testy relationship with Wall Street. He aggressively pursued a pay-to-play scandal involving investment firms’ supposed bribing of state pension officials to win mandates. And his office put out a scathing report on financiers’ pay that declared, “There is no clear rhyme or reason to the way banks compensate and reward their employees.”
But now that he’s governor — and facing a huge deficit — Cuomo has decided it’s only prudent to solicit the advice of Wall Streeters (who also happen to chip in a goodly share of New York’s tax revenues). His new Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisers even has a number of hedge fund managers, including Highbridge Capital’s Glenn Dubin, along with banker Felix Rohatyn, who of course has some experience with financial rescues.
But given the parlous state of New York’s finances, one Cuomo appointment could be a little disconcerting: hedge fund manager Jim Chanos — a short-seller.
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