Former car czar settles with SEC, fights New York AG

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Obama car czar Steven Rattner has agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle federal charges over his role in a "pay-to-play" scandal, but says he won't be "bullied" into accepting a harsher penalty from New York's attorney general.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that Rattner had accepted the fine and a two-year ban from the securities industry to resolve allegations that he paid illegal kickbacks to help his private equity firm land a lucrative investment from a state pension fund.

Similar settlement talks with state officials collapsed, however, and today New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed two lawsuits seeking a much tougher punishment: at least $26 million and a lifetime ban from the securities business.

Rattner expressed outrage over that demand in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

"While settling with the SEC begins the process of putting this matter behind me, I will not be bullied simply because the Attorney General's office prefers political considerations instead of a reasoned assessment of the facts," he said.