Former GM CEO Daniel Akerson somehow missed questioning in the timing of GM's deadly recalls. Akerson came to GM from The Carlyle Group, a private equity underwriter (PEU). Carlyle's works hard to maintain its sterling reputation, thus bad news is not permitted. When Carlyle lost Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC) to bankruptcy, it danced away from CCC's carcass, claiming "we're not that Carlyle."
I'll venture that GM employees knew not to bring bad news to former PEU Akerson. I suspect there would be a serious price to pay for anyone who'd smudged or dinged GM's shiny rebirth under Akerson. Automotive part failure related deaths would fit into that category.
Another form of recall has Akerson front and center on anti-competitive PEU club deals. Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital settled their portion of the case for a combined $121 million. Key evidence of collusion includes Dealbook's report:
K.K.R. asked its competitors to “step down on HCA” and not bid, according to an email written by Daniel Akerson, who was then a partner at Carlyle.
Apparently, Akerson didn't get the memo from fellow PEU Robert Rubin of Centerbridge Partners. Let the girls in the office do e-mail. KKR's public face of Ken Mehlman and David Petraeus have been silent on this subject. Maybe one of their girls will weigh in.
Akerson's on record in a scandal of public interest, just not the one with car crash related deaths.
