It looks like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson isn’t the only one who has Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein on speed dial.
Records show his successor, Tim Geithner, over a seven-month period, kept in constant contact with Blankfein as well as Citigroup bosses Dick Parsons and Vikram Pandit and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon.
Geithner’s appointment book — obtained by the Associated Press in a formal Freedom of Information Act filing — showed that during his first seven months as Treasury secretary, he communicated more than 80 times with the small circle of Wall Street power players.
Geithner contacted Blankfein most frequently, at least 15 times — either in person or in Geithner’s office or over the phone — between January and July.
However, no single company got more calls from the Treasury secretary than Citi, of which Uncle Sam now holds a 34 percent stake and into which the feds have sunk $45 billion in bailout cash. The records show Geithner spoke regularly to both Parsons, the chairman, and Pandit, the CEO.
The Treasury didn’t provide details of what transpired during any of these conversations.
Geithner’s frequent conversations with the bank bosses raised alarms among some observers who think their sit-downs bred a cozy relationship that gave Wall Street’s elite, particularly Goldman, unfair advantage over the Street’s smaller fry.
Geithner’s spokesman, Andrew Williams, said: “It’s appropriate for Treasury officials to keep in touch with those who work in the markets every day, particularly when the economy and the markets are so fragile.”