Chief of Staff Jacob Lew Picked for Treasury, Despite Bailout Scandal

Lew received $900,000 bonus after bailout and played a role in betting against the housing market, triggering subprime crisis.

President Obama’s pick to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary has his own baggage.

Jacob Lew has now been chosen for Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, after playing musical chairs in Obama’s cabinet, shifting from Budget Manager (OMB) to Chief of Staff, the position he currently holds. Lew was previously mentioned on Obama’s short list for Treasury once Geithner steps down.

He is, predictably, also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Brookings Institute and other top globalist confab circles.

But Lew has already come under fire for receiving a $900,000 bonus immediately following the 2008 financial crisis on top of $1.1 million in compensation for his job as Chief Operating Officer at Citigroup, shortly after it saw $27.7 billion in losses and received some $45 billion in bailout money under TARP.

Worse, Mother Jones documents how Jacob Lew presided over the Citigroup unit, Alternative Investments, “that made money by betting against the housing market as it prepared to implode.” Lew’s tenure reportedly included doubling the firm’s investment’s in Paulson Advantage Plus LP which was operated by “hedge fund king John Paulson, the man who made billions off the deterioration of the housing industry.” Along with Goldman Sachs’ role in betting against AIG, it played a major role in exacerbating the subprime mortgage crisis, which in turn triggered the larger financial crisis that we were told necessitated the bailout. Read more...