President Obama nominated Peter Orszag to be his Director of Management and Budget in November, 2008, where he served a year and a half and resigned the position in July 2010.  His new position at Citibank may pay $2-3 million according to bankers familiar with similar positions. Orszag joins a former Bush cabinet appointee at Citibank.

Peter Orszag, 41, worked in the Clinton administration, at the Brookings Institution, as Director of the Congressional Budget Office for almost 2 years in 2007-2008. He has been called a protégé of Robert Rubin, another Citibank multi-millionaire and Obama adviser.

Orszag will join Carlos Gutierrez, George W. Bush's Secretary of Commerce on the Citibank Senior Strategic Advisory Group.  Orszag's duties at Citibank have been described as "murky at best", but they are sure to earn him far more than his government service. For a period of time, he will not be allowed to contact government officials in his work at Citibank, as part of government ethics rules to prevent government employees from unfairly exploiting their connections in government for profit.

Orszag testified before Congress in 2008 on the possible bailout of Citibank and other institutions, and he expressed concern that some banks might be 'insolvent' under certain assessments, yet action was advised:

"Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled assets on their books at inflated values," Orszag said in his testimony. "Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent.....If we did nothing, there is a significant risk of another collapse of confidence in the financial markets,"

An article in the Atlantic has called the move by Orszag as an 'unfortunate decision'. The piece concludes that Orszag's move to Citibank may make one 'wince a little bit' when hearing the Obama campaign slogan 'Change We can Believe In".