If you can win Jeopardy, I’m aboard with ya’

Elizabeth Warren and Richard Cordray

Wow. Here‘s a story from Business Insider, via Raw Story about that devil Obama appointed to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Until I read this, about the only thing I knew about Richard Cordray was that he was not Elizabeth Warren.

So who is he?

We’ve written a lot about him at Business Insider. Partly because, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, there’s no denying he’s incredibly impressive. Cordray is an undefeated, five-time Jeopardy! champion (he won $45,303), has a masters in economics from Oxford University, and was also editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review.

After law school he clerked for Supreme Court for a Reagan appointee, and represented the U.S. government before the Supreme Court there three times — once for George H.W. Bush and twice for Bill Clinton. That was all before running for AG of Ohio (a swing state) as a Democrat.

So what’s the problem with Cordray? There are two, one is an old Washington problem, and the other is purely Wall Street’s:

1. Republicans said they would never support anyone to head the CFPB — Period —that is, unless the White House made serious changes to the agency. (Politico)
2. He doesn’t just go after Wall Street Institutions. He goes after individual executives as well.

So he makes it personal – something we’ve all been yearning for:

• In 2009, representing several state public pension funds, he reached a settlement with Hank Greenberg and other AIG execs that blew the SECs settlement out of the water. Cordray got $115 million, the SEC got a mere $15 million.

• The following year he settled another suit against AIG itself (also for Ohio) for $750 million. Some reports said the insurance company would actually be paying out $1 billion.

• And then there was the Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch merger. Cordray sued on behalf of Ohio pensions on the grounds that BofAS concealed billions of dollars of Merrill Lynch losses from their clients before the merger. The case settled for $475 million.

Knock ’em dead Richard. Go in there and stand up for us! And Godspeed.