Monday, September 1, 2014

Carlyle's Image Maintenance Cost $115 Million


The Carlyle Group's signature aim is to control the narrative by "maintaining its good name."  The private equity underwriter (PEU) recently challenged five expert witnesses in the longstanding price-fixing collusion lawsuit brought by investors. 

Law360 reported:

Carlyle moved to strike five expert witnesses that the plaintiffs — a proposed class of shareholders of companies bought out by the private equity firms — said they planned to rely upon at a November antitrust trial in the case.

Carlyle's defense was seemingly based on principle:  Fortune stated:

Carlyle had been holding out largely because its co-founders — David Rubenstein, Dan D’Aniello and William Conway — were said to be personally offended by the notion that they had been involved in an illegal act, and who felt that any settlement would be a tacit admission of wrongdoing.
Tacit admission it is:

The Carlyle Group has agreed to pay $115 million to settle its part in a massive private equity collusion case, Fortune has learned from a source close to the situation.  A Carlyle spokesman declined comment.
How can this be?  Name maintenance.  Since companies are people for the purposes of election funding, they can also be people with damaged psyches.

The implicit goal of any primary narcissist is to maximize their image in each and every present moment.  There is no other criteria.  Anyone looking for core beliefs or fundamental truths will be driven crazy by their ability to say the exact opposite position from five minutes ago and treat you with complete and total disdain for suggesting they said anything otherwise.

A Labor Day weekend news release should help that story sink to the bottom of the news ticker.  Image maintenance achieved!