Spitzer Name Doesn't Ring Like It Used To

Not only has his popularity generally diminished, but Eliot Spitzer's crime-fighting image and the number of executives who shiver at the mention of his name have dramatically decreased, too, according to a report from Reuters.

The New York Attorney General made a name for himself when he broke the mutual fund scandal wide open and investors cheered as he started making market timers and late traders pay for their malfeasance in the public of venues.

But in the wake of unsuccessful and highly-publicized bid to put former Bank of America broker Ted Sihpol behind bars earlier this summer, a lot of folks on Wall Street appear increasingly cavalier about his presence.

Most recently, Ken Langone, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and whose compensation committee Spitzer is suing, branded the AG's use of taxpayer money wasteful in a recent column in The Wall Street Journal.

"There is a pattern: everything that goes to trial, and ends up in court, he loses," said Michael Grave, a Spitzer critic and political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute.

But Lawrence White, a professor of economics at New York University, said Spitzer is still the man who brokered a record $1.4 billion settlement with 10 Wall Street firms three years ago.

"Is he looking a little more tarnished than [he did] a year ago? Yes. But is he seriously weakened? I don't think so," White said.

Companies and individuals are seizing the day. Most notably, asset management firm J&W Seligman challenged Spitzer earlier this month claiming that the AG had overstepped his authority in his investigation of its fees.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.