LARRY SUMMERS: A WALKING, TALKING CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Timothy J. Burger and Kristin Jensen, Bloomberg News - Lawrence Summers, director of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, took in more than $2.7 million in speaking fees paid by organizations that included Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Bank of America Corp., among other companies now receiving taxpayer funds in the economic bailout.

Summers also was paid more than $1.4 million in salary and over $3.7 million in other compensation by the investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co. in the past 16 months, according to financial disclosure forms of top White House officials that the administration made public today.

Given Summers' resume, "there was considerable interest in hearing his economic insights from companies across various industries," said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman.

Roberta Rampton, Reuters - Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, was paid about $5.2 million by hedge fund D.E. Shaw in the past year, financial disclosure forms released by the White House showed. . .

Summers, who was a part-time managing director of D.E. Shaw after stepping down as Harvard president, had speaking fees of $67,500 from JP Morgan, $45,000 from Citigroup, $135,000 from Goldman and $67,500 from Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt in the mortgage crisis last year.