CNBC Reporter Cozies Up to Bear Stearns Savior

FRESH HONEY Caruso-Cabrera, Bartiromo, Parr



Is Michelle Caruso-Cabrera trying to become the new “Money Honey” on CNBC? Rumor has it, she’s torn a page out of fellow so-called anchor babe Maria Bartiromo’s play book, covering the $30 billion Bear Stearns bailout while allegedly dating the man who orchestrated it, Gary Parr. He’s the deputy chairman of Lazard Frères & Co., a 50-year-old divorced dad of two who devised the plan to funnel $30 million of Fed-backed money into the tanking bank, the fifth largest on Wall Street. He’s the guy Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz desperately dialed as he learned of the investor run on the Wall Street behemoth. He’s also a big investor in indie films, having backed Proof and At Home at the End of the World, and he’s known for wining and dining journos at premieres. But, rumor has it, Caruso-Cabrera is his favorite.

A CNBC spokesman declined to comment on the personal life of its anchor. Asked whether CNBC has policies against its reporters dating the people they cover, the spokesperson declined to comment on internal policies, too. Whatever the pillow talk may or may not be, Caruso-Cabrera, in her defense, doesn’t seem to be going lightly on the Bear Stearns bailout. She stuck it to Mad Money yeller Jim Cramer recently, backing him into a corner with questions about whether the bailout is justified until Cramer let loose a classic blunder: “The American public doesn’t know jack!” (Video below.)

If this all sounds familiar, it could be because another CNBC reporter, Maria Bartiromo, was publicly flogged for flying solo on the private jet of Citigroup’s Todd Thompson, someone she covered. He was ousted from Citigroup, she was defended by her CNBC bosses.

– By Tyler Gray

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