Quadrangle Group, which was not long ago America's most prominent media-focused private equity firm, is folding (in its current form, at least). The reason for its downfall is the same man largely responsible for its success: Steven Rattner.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the SEC will file a civil lawsuit against former New York Times reporter, car czar, and asshole Steven Rattner for his role in a pension kickback scheme. His downfall continues!

Steven Rattner, the New York Times reporter turned hot shot banker turned Obama "Car Czar," has agreed to be banned from the securities industry for "a few years" as punishment for an illegal kickback scandal. Fall from grace: complete. [NYT]

Steven Rattner went from New York Times reporter to well-connected financier and Democratic fundraiser to (temporary) auto czar. Now, he may be on the verge of being banned from the securities industry. It's enough to make you exclaim, "Ha."

In your wet Wednesday media column: Peter Chernin assembling a secret empire, John Carney gets a new job, pay TV is far from dying, Jon Meacham meets Steven Rattner, and Vanity Fair joins the electronic age.

Have you been wondering why power couple Steven Rattner and Maureen White, rich Democratic fundraisers and friends to all local plutocrats, are supporting Harold Ford? Because Kirsten Gillibrand broke Maureen's brothers heart.

It's true: Harold Ford, Jr. is a joke. His New York Post editorial today more or less announcing his candidacy for Senate is terrible. His various friends and associates are a rogue's gallery of Gawker's most hated.

Just asking: Is it odd that deposed car czar Steve Rattner poured $35 million into Jay Penske's dubious internet adventure Mail.com in October, and then arranged for Jay's father Roger Penske to buy Saturn from General Motors nine months later?

Steven Rattner is the social-climbing financier who resigned as auto czar because his private equity firm is embroiled in a pay-to-play scandal. Everyone's waiting for shoes to drop, but New York says Rattner's biggest problem is that nobody likes him.

Maniac publisher Felix Dennis sold Maxim for $250 million to Steven Rattner's Quadrangle Group in 2007; now, Rattner's firm is about to lose control of the magazine. Related: Dennis "once exclaimed at a meeting, 'I need to stop smoking crack.'"

If there's anyone who'd want to take Steve Rattner—the media-savvy financier-cum-auto-czar who is embroiled in a pay-to-play pension scandal—down a notch, it would be fearless Wall Street bulldog Eliot Spitzer, right? Wrong.

It's been quite a ride for Steven Rattner, from New York Times scribbler to investment banker to presidential adviser. But each passing day seems to undo his achievements a bit further.

He could blame his investment firm's failures on the economy. His wife's DWI could be covered up by media pals. But the Obama Administration's auto-bailout adviser can't hide a bribery investigation.

For more than seven months, GM CEO Rick Wagoner steadfastly resisted calls to step down. Surprising, then, that he was forced out on the watch of shameless gladhander and political suck-up Steven Rattner.

Ron Insana left CNBC three years ago to run a hedge fund. Like Lou Dobbs and Steven Rattner before him, he learned that actually succeeding in business is not as easy as covering success in business. So now he's begged a part-time reporting job from his old bosses. At least he'll be able to share his…

Steven Rattner's shameless gladhanding has finally paid off: The New York Times-reporter-turned-financier will advise the Obama administration on the auto bailout. His Quadrangle Group's record should give Detroit pause.

Here's something for conspiracy theorists: earlier this month, news emerged that the wife of financier Steven Rattner got a DUI last year, which was conveniently not reported upon. Now Rattner's Obama administration job has disappeared.

Did you know that financier Steven Rattner's wife Maureen White, the former national finance chair of the Democratic Party, had a hilarious drunk driving arrest last October? Nope, because no one reported on it!

Amid 2008's many sex scandals, it was a miracle there was any time left to monitor an epochal presidential election. There were many genuine, dirty affairs — and some duds inevitably got overhyped.