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SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP
TELEPHONE: 1·212·558·4000
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December 13, 201 0
Via Email and First Class Mail
Gary J. Cohen,
General Counsel,
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission,
171 7 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20006-4614.
Re:
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's Potential Use of
Nicolas Weill's Interview
Dear Mr. Cohen:
I write on behalfofNicolas Weill, Moody's Chief Credit Officer for
Global Structured Finance, and Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's" or the
"Company") in response to your letter to Mr. Weill dated December 6, 2010. In your
letter, you identified two statements made by Mr. Weill during an interview given to the
Commission under a confidentiality understanding, and stated that the Commission may
include or paraphrase those statements in its written Report. 1
Mr. Weill and Moody's object to the inclusion ofthe first statement
identified in your letter: "We saw delinquencies start to rise in November 2006." Mr.
Weill and Moody's object to inclusion of the statement because we have been unable to
On October 26, 2010, you sent a letter to Mr. Weill notifying him that the
Commission may include a transcript, audio file or summary of his interview as
part of its oral history project on the Commission's website. On November 12,
2010, I sent you a letter regarding Moody's concerns about the personal and
professional consequences that may arise for staff personnel whose confidential
interviews are disclosed. You have informed us that you are considering those
concerns. Mr. Weill appreciates that consideration. To the extent that any portion
of Mr. Weill's interview may be publicly disclosed beyond the statements
identified in your December 6 letter, we understand that you will notify us and
that we will have an opportunity to object.
Gary J. Cohen
-2-
locate this statement during our careful review of Mr. Weill's interview. Although Mr.
Weill did state that Moody's "started to take rating actions ... in November 2006," (see
Interview at 22:45-22:53), this is a very different statement, in words and substance, than
the one identified by the Commission in its letter. If you direct us to the portion of the
interview where the statement appears, Mr. Weill and Moody's will respond promptly
should any objection be appropriate.
Mr. Weill and Moody's object to the inclusion of the second statement
identified in your letter concerning the number of personnel in the surveillance group at
the end of2007 because Mr. Weill expressly stated during his interview that he would
"have difficulty speculating what the numbers were." (Interview 15:12-15:16.)
Therefore, it would be inappropriate and potentially misleading to publish Mr. Weill's
speculation.
We understand that to the extent that any other portions of Mr. Weill's
interview are under consideration for inclusion in the Report, you will notify us and we
will have an opportunity to object as appropriate.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at (212) 558-4976 if you would like to
discuss any of these matters.
Very truly yours,
jk~/MwM
Sharon L. Nelles
cc:
Cassidy Waskowicz
Sarah Zuckerman
Sarah Knaus
(Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission)
@FedFRASER