DETROIT, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A business group in Detroit has canceled a speaking engagement by former White House auto industry liaison Steve Rattner due to his legal troubles.
Detroit Economic Club President Beth Chappell said she made the decision herself after contacting four of 50 DEC board members who all came to the same conclusion.
Rattner had been scheduled to speak Oct. 26 at a luncheon scheduled to promote his book, "Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry," the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.
"I struggled with this. I know a lot of people will not agree. We don't come across this kind of thing too often," Chappell said.
Rattner has reportedly settled a Securities and Exchange Commission case against him for more than $5 million and a suspension from working in the securities industry, but an official SEC statement has yet to be issued.
Rattner signed on as the White House's so-called "auto czar" in January 2009 and resigned in June as concern over his role in a New York State pension fund scandal grew.
Rattner co-founded the Quadrangle Group private equity fund in 2000. That firm has already settled the SEC case against it with a multimillion dollar fine.
