Obama Adviser Received $5 Million from Hedge Funds in 2008

Obama Adviser Has Close Ties To Giant Hedge Fund
According to White House records released on Friday, Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, received more than $5 million from a single hedge fund last year. The hedge fund making the payments was D.E. Shaw, one of the world's largest hedge funds. It should be noted that these payments come because Summers was recently a managing director at the firm.

Summers who is Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers also received money from other financial institutions for speaking engagements including 67,500 from JP Morgan, $45,000 from Citigroup, $135,000 from Goldman Sachs and $67,500 from Lehman Brothers, all of whom run hedge funds of their own.

Summers is an integral part of Obama's economic team which is attempting to place additional regulations on hedge funds. It will be interesting to see how Summers' hedge fund background influences the administrations tactics and approach to regulating hedge funds.