Probe Clouds Star Turn For Auto Negotiator Rattner

His success made him rich, with a horse farm, an island trophy home and a grand apartment in the same Fifth Avenue building as billionaire George Soros. On a recent financial disclosure form, Rattner listed his net worth at between $188 million and $608 million.

His political connections were equally impressive.

Rattner's wife, Maureen White, became fundraising chair of the Democratic National Committee. She and her husband raised millions of dollars for Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, all of whom were said to have been considering Rattner for an appointment as high as cabinet secretary if they had won.

President Bill Clinton dined at his home on Martha's Vineyard the week he admitted his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

But in the autumn of 2004, Rattner was entering some unfamiliar territory — trying to raise money from public pension funds. And there, remarkably, he found himself short on clout.

At the time, the Quadrangle Group was trying to find capital for a new $2 billion fund that would invest in media and communications companies.