Spitzer debate dodged

Monday, March 24, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Citigroup Inc. Chairman Sanford Weill asked the New York Stock Exchange to withdraw his nomination to the board as investor representative after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer called him an "inappropriate" choice and vowed to fight the appointment.

Weill "was adamantly opposed to engaging in public debate over his qualifications," NYSE chairman Richard Grasso said in a statement announcing Weill had withdrawn.

The withdrawal in the face of Spitzer's objections represents a setback for efforts by the chief executive of the world's largest financial services company to put behind him months of investigations into his and Citigroup's roles in issuing biased stock research to win investment banking business.

archive