Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S. Government’s September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and currently serves as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, popularly called the ‘pay czar’.
Feinberg’s network on Muckety.
Founded his own firm — The Feinberg Group — in 1993, he was a founding partner at the Washington office of Kaye Scholer LLP.
Feinberg has served as Court-Appointed Special Settlement Master in cases including Agent Orange product liability litigation, Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation and DES Cases. Feinberg was also one of three arbitrators who determined the fair market value of the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination and was one of two arbitrators who determined the allocation of legal fees in the Holocaust slave labor litigation. He is a former Lecturer-in-Law at a number of U.S. law schools. – from Wikipedia:
From the Wall Street Journal:
“Mr. Feinberg will report to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, but he is expected to have wide discretion on how the rules should be interpreted. Firms likely won’t be able to appeal decisions that Mr. Feinberg makes to Mr. Geithner, according to people familiar with the matter.”
The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund: Private Pain and Public Compensation, 2008:
Feinberg speaks from 22:00 to 31:00 at the Conference on the State of the Judiciary- Our Courts and Corporate Citizenship at Georgetown University Law Center, Oct. 2, 2008:
From ABC News, “Obama’s “Pay Czar” No Stranger to Big Paychecks“:
“I guess he’s occupying a similar kind of position now, being a mediator between Treasury and the banks themselves,” Hodgson said, adding that Feinberg’s prior work should have been made public at the time of his appointment.
A one-time chief of staff to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday, Feinberg is also active politically, making more than $300,000 in campaign contributions since 1990, mostly to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The recipients include Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
He also serves on the boards of a series of non-profits, including the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Human Rights First, the Washington National Opera, and RAND Institute for Civil Justice.
He spreads his own banking across three institutions — Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co’s Wachovia, and Swiss bank UBS
(Reporting by Steve Eder and Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Martin Howell, Tim Dobbyn)
Another article I found on Feinberg from WesternFrontAmerica.com:
“So, ONE MAN, in an un-elected position, was able to dictate pay decisions to private corporations. This man was appointed by the administration. The Senate did not confirm him. There was NO input, feedback, or even consultation with any other branch of government. He was granted great power by the administration, with absolutely no oversight or counterbalance. I believe that this sets the stage for other usurpations of the separation of powers, the Tenth Amendment, the rest of our Constitution, and the eventual tyranny that is to come.
Now, some will say that this was appropriate because the companies affected had taken government money via the TARP, or were taken over by the government. However, the response is two-fold. One is that there should never have been a TARP. There is no Constitutional precedent for taking over banking institutions, or private companies. The second is that this established the precedent for more and more government intervention and control.”
This from CNN, the Pay Czar shows mercy…at least for the Obama Administration’s friends:
“The new AIG CEO will also be eligible for $3.5 million in annual performance bonuses. The bonus will be prorated for 2009. AIG can recover his bonus if he deceives shareholders.
The approval was widely expected, because Feinberg gave a preliminary thumbs-up to the package when it was announced on Aug. 18. For formal approval, AIG had to submit a review of Benmosche’s compensation package from his last job, when he was the CEO of MetLife (MET, Fortune 500). AIG also was asked to compare Benmosche’s pay plan to those of other CEOs at similar companies.”
In June 2012, he was also chosen to pay out the $20 billion funds for the BP Oil Spill and in Sept. 2012 he was hired by Penn State to pay out several personal injury claims in connection to the the Jerry Sandusky case.
