Fortress Investment Group LLC has given a job to former vice presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who will advise the firm on "global economic issues related to Fortress' investment activities," said Kim Rubey, Edwards' spokeswoman.
Edwards, who was the running mate to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, will work part-time as a senior adviser, she said.
Business Week first reported the story Thursday.
Edwards, who amassed a $22 million to $70 million fortune as a personal-injury trial lawyer, served in the Senate for one term representing North Carolina and is considered a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.
He is head of the University of North Carolina's Center on Work Poverty and Opportunity, a think-tank committed to battling poverty.
Edwards is among several well-known politicians who have taken jobs in the investment-banking world after leaving public life. Hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP hired former Vice President Dan Quayle in 2000 as an ambassador for its global investment group. And former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani launched an investment-banking firm last year, called Giuliani Capital Advisers, to advise companies on restructurings, acquisitions and other deals.
New York-based Fortress Investment Group, founded in 1998, has $15 billion in equity capital under management.
