32 Advisors website shamelessly reveals the ways politicians and public servants cash in after leaving government. They profile how the big money boys hire political insiders, who subtly direct them to industries experiencing major disruption. In this case 32 Advisors highlights Austan Goolsbee's turn at the till.
Through a contract with New York City-based consultancy 32 Advisors, Austan Goolsbee has held conference calls most Fridays since February 2013 with employees of large hedge fund firms Fortress Investment Group, York Capital Management, Perella Weinberg Partners, SkyBridge Capital and others.
Fortress Investment Group is the only publicly traded company in the group. How has Fortress' stock performed since Goolsbee began advising them? Fortress (symbol FIG) closed Friday at $4.65 per share. The size of the loss depends on which Friday Austan started.
February 1 - Close on 2-4 of $5.53, loss of 88 cents per share or a 16% declineAustan Goolsbee helped Fortress achieve ghoulish returns.
February 8 - Close on 2-11 of $6.32, loss of $1.67 or a 26% drop
February 15 -Close on 2-18 of $6.15, loss of $1.50 per share or 24% loss
February 22 - Close on 2-25 of $6.39, loss of $1.74 per share or 27% decline
The big money boys are happy to pay retired political ghouls for insider connections, because that's the way work gets done in Washington. Note that Goolsbee is advising Perella Weinberg, once cited by President Obama as speculators holding up efforts to save Chrysler. Yet Obama reformed the healthcare landscape for those very same speculators.
