Robert Rubin, the former US Treasury secretary who later advised Citigroup as the bank piled up subprime-mortgage losses, may soon face his first public grilling on the 2008 financial crisis.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, investigating the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, plans to ask Rubin to testify in April, said two people with knowledge of the commission’s decisions.
The panel also may summon former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and ex-Citigroup CEO Charles Prince in its review of companies and regulatory lapses that fueled excessive speculation in the real-estate market, said the people.
Rubin’s reputation dimmed after the US bailed out Citi with $45 billion and American International Group had to be propped up because of losses on derivatives. When Rubin was President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, he fought efforts to regulate derivatives.
FCIC Chairman Phil Angelides and Vice Chairman Bill Thomas, in an interview yesterday, wouldn’t confirm whether Rubin will be asked to appear. The commission plans to seek testimony from those who’ve been “major leaders” in government and on Wall Street, Angelides said.
Rubin, through an aide, declined to comment. Greenspan, through his assistant, said he would be pleased to testify if asked. Prince declined to comment.