Winners and Losers 12/12/14

When perennial Winner of the Week U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara winds up on the loser's list, it's not a typical week. But other developments seemed routine—a former charity head was punished for embezzling, an advocacy group was fined for campaign shenanigans, Mayor Bill de Blasio was blasted for skipping a service—and, as always, we have your Winners and Losers.

WINNERS

Daniel Alter - The relatively unknown general counsel of New York’s Department of Financial Services was outed by Reuters as the “legal mastermind” behind some of the three-year-old banking regulator’s greatest triumphs. Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky may oversee the department, but it was reportedly Alter’s imaginative and aggressive work that forced Standard Chartered to cough up $340 million after the bank got busted doing business with Iran. Alter’s biggest get of all was negotiating a $2.24 billion penalty from BNP Paribas for doing $190 billion in business with Sudan, Iran, and Cuba between 2002 and 2012, in violation of U.S. law. Lawsky is rumored to be planning a return to the private sector next year. Guess who’s rumored to take his place?

John Banks - There are few positions more powerful in New York City than to be the head of the Real Estate Board of New York. Let's just be honest: Real Estate is the gold, diamond and platinum mine for political fundraising and stepping in as the next president of REBNY is a position that instantly commands respect. Banks may not take over for a few months, but you can guess that his call sheet has already started to light up.

Robert Duffy - The official winners at the presentation of the latest round of Regional Economic Development Council awards this week were the recipients of tens of millions of dollars dedicated toward various projects and initiatives around the state. But the star of the show was outgoing Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, the man who oversaw the REDC efforts—and who happened to be making his last public appearance as New York’s No. 2. The whole affair morphed into a love-fest for Duffy, with everyone cheering for Cuomo’s cheerleader-in-chief.  

Dr. John King - The state Education Commissioner is saying sayonara to New York State and will take a high-level education post with the Obama administration. King was commissioner during the tumultuous time when the state was implementing the new Common Core standards, which got him screamed at by parents and teachers and resulted in calls for his resignation. All in all, a pretty thankless job. We can’t imagine he’ll be too sad to leave his post, and to be able to concentrate more on policy than politics.

Shirley Ann Jackson - A new study found the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute president was the highest paid private college president in the nation in 2012, earning an annual salary of $7.1 million. In college student terms: That’s a whole lot of Ramen noodles.

LOSERS

Preet Bharara - Long considered the lone successful crusader against insider trading and other scandals following the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, the U.S. Attorney took a body blow on Wednesday when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of former hedge fund managers Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson. The three-judge panel ruled that prosecutors had to establish that Newman and Chiasson had personally known that insiders at the technology companies Dell and Nvidia were leaking confidential information, but that the two defendants were so far removed from the transactions that they could not be considered culpable. This doesn’t just let the two men off the hook—it could potentially provide a blueprint for defenses against future insider trading prosecutions. Definitely a tough week for Mr. Bharara.

Bill de Blasio - If you're going to skip out on the funeral of the most influential Latino elected official in New York City history, you probably should make sure nobody snaps a picture of you hanging out at the gym instead. Yet another baffling unforced error from the mayor. What was he thinking? Was he working out to look good on that "ex ape"?

Allie Feldman - NYCLASS, New York City’s premiere horse-carriage-hating animal rights group, got saddled with a “severe” $26,054 in fines by the Campaign Finance Board for illegally coordinating campaign expenditures on behalf of two City Council candidates during the 2013 elections and trying to pass them off as independent—which they apparently weren’t. NYCLASS has tried to pin the blame on The Advance Group—the organization’s one-time consulting firm—which, the CFB has hinted, might be in for similar treatment itself in the near future. CFB Chair Rose Gill Hearn was quoted in the Observer decrying the “disturbing increase in spending by outside groups” in elections at all levels of government. In the future, maybe these outside groups will think twice about horsing around on the CFB’s watch.

Yolanda Gonzalez - The former director of the South Bronx charity Nos Quedamos pleaded guilty last Thursday evening to swiping some $900,000 from the organization. She faces up to four and a half years in prison when she’s sentenced in January. We know some might argue that the timing of Gonzalez’s guilty plea really makes her last week’s loser, but if we can all agree to adhere to the week according to the Winners & Losers schedule—which generally ends promptly every Thursday at noon—it’s clear that she belongs on this list.

Ian Gordon - There is a fine line between being provocative and being offensive. The Investec analyst wasn't tiptoeing that line when he headlined a research note about New York's Department of Financial Services' scrutiny of the British bank Standard Chartered "I Can't Breathe." After being slammed by DFS Superintendent Ben Lawsky for the callous quip, eventually Investec apologized, but not until after Gordon defended it, throwing gasoline on an already red-hot flame.