All the Devils Are Here [2]
Chris Ricciardi Head of Merrill’s CDO team from 2003 to 2006. While at Prudential Securities in the mid-1990s, worked on one of the first mortgage-backed CDOs.
Osman Semerci Installed as global head of fixed income, reporting to Kim, in 2006. Fired in 2007.
Arshad Zakaria Head of global markets and investment banking. Considered a close ally of O’Neal until forced out in August 2003.
Moody’s
Mark Adelson Longtime Moody’s analyst and co-head of the asset-backed securities group whose skepticism was at odds with Brian Clarkson’s vision for the agency. Quit in 2000.
Brian Clarkson Co-head of the asset-backed securities group who aggressively pursued market share. Named president in 2007.
Eric Kolchinsky Managing director in charge of rating asset-backed CDOs. Oversaw the rating process for John Paulson’s Abacus deal.
Raymond McDaniel CEO.
THE PIONEERS
Larry Fink Devised the idea of “tranching” mortgage-backed securities to parcel out risk. Underwrote some of the first mortgage-backed securities for First Boston in the 1980s. Later founded BlackRock and served as a key government adviser during the financial crisis.
David Maxwell Fannie Mae’s CEO from 1981 to 1991. Important player in the early days of mortgage securitization.
Lew Ranieri Salomon Brothers bond trader who helped invent the mortgage-backed security in the 1980s.
THE REGULATORS
Attorneys General
Prentiss Cox Head of the consumer enforcement division in the Minnesota attorney general’s office from 2001 to 2005.
Tom Miller Iowa attorney general who fought predatory lending.
Eliot Spitzer New York State attorney general from 1999 to 2006.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Brooksley Born Chair of the CFTC from 1996 to 1999. Attempted to increase oversight of derivatives dealers.
Wendy Gramm Chair of the CFTC from 1988 to 1993.
Michael Greenberger Director of the CFTC’s division of trading and markets under Born.
United States Congress
Richard Baker Louisiana congressman who introduced a bill to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 1999.
James Bothwell Author of two key General Accounting Office reports, one criticizing Fannie and Freddie and the other calling for regulation of derivatives.
Charles Bowsher Head of the GAO from 1981 to 1996. Bothwell’s ally.
Phil Gramm Chairman of the Senate banking committee from 1989 to 2003. Opposed regulation of derivatives. The “Gramm” in Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the law that abolished the Glass-Steagall Act.
Jim Leach Chair of the House banking committee from 1995 to 2001. Criticized Fannie and Freddie. The “Leach” in Gramm-Leach-Bliley.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Andrew Cuomo HUD secretary from 1997 to 2001. Crossed swords with Jim Johnson. Increased Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing goals.
Armando Falcon Jr. Director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight from 1999 to 2005. Outspoken critic of Fannie and Freddie, the two institutions his office was charged with regulating.
Jim Lockhart Director of OFHEO from 2006 to 2008.
Department of the Treasury
John Dugan Comptroller of the currency starting in 2004.
Gary Gensler Former Goldman executive who became assistant Treasury secretary under Robert Rubin. Testified in favor of Baker’s bill. Current chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
James Gilleran Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision from 2001 to 2005.
John “Jerry” Hawke Comptroller of the currency from 1998 to 2004.
Henry “Hank” Paulson Jr. Treasury secretary from 2006 to 2009. Previously chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.
John Reich Director of the OTS from 2005 to 2009.
Robert Rubin Treasury secretary from 1995 to 1999. Previously co-chairman of Goldman Sachs.
Bob Steel Undersecretary for domestic finance in 2006. Former Goldman vice chairman brought to Treasury by Paulson.
Larry Summers Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001. Rubin’s deputy before that. Along with Rubin and Alan Greenspan, the third member of “the Committee to Save the World.”
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation