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There's only one thing Wall Street hates about Hillary Clinton, and it has nothing to do with all the scandals

Jun 4, 2015, 00:58 IST

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Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is already scandal-ridden.

There's the separate State Department e-mail server, the sky high speaking fees, and money that seems to flow through a bunch of odd channels to get to where it's going.

Is any of this going to turn Wall Street away from giving money to Hillary Clinton?

Not a chance.

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"The Clintons are not dirty," said one young portfolio manager.

"They make appearances, get money, put it in the fund, build schools. It's not going into their personal bank accounts. It's the way the world works I find nothing wrong with it."

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What people don't get about Wall Street and the Clintons, is that, for the most part, Wall Street gets the Clintons.

Last week the New York Times reported that Bill Clinton refused to speak at a small charity's event until it pledged $500,000 of the evening's proceeds to the Clinton family foundation.

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Doug White, director of Columbia University's fundraising management program, told The Times he found the whole arrangement "distasteful."

But in an industry where one billionaire - hedge fund manager Bill Ackman - can write a $25 million check for another billionaire's charity, that $500,000 barely raises an eyebrow.

The charity, by the way, was Paul Tudor Jones' Robin Hood. The night Ackman wrote that check at Robin Hood's annual gala, the charity raised $101 million total from ticket sales, satellite parties and other things, all using the pockets of Wall Streeters and other power players.

So again, what's $500,000?

"I'm not sure if Wall Street even cares [about controversy surrounding Clinton money]," said one hedge fund executive. "She's so shady, but Wall Street is a shady business."

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Some on Wall Street even think Clinton has actually allowed herself to get mired in all this scandal so early on purpose.

"Right now she's ahead in the polls," said Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of SkyBridge Capital, an investment firm with $13 billion under management. "The Clinton goal is get this [all the stories] out there now. Price it into the campaign and move on."

"Priced in." That's trader talk.

See how easy Clinton strategy translates into Wall Street?

There is one thing that gets to Wall Street, though, and this goes for any politician asking for cash.

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"I think we care when she talks s---t about us and then takes our money," said one principle at a New York-based hedge fund. "Now that's shady."

And for a lot of Wall Street, that's where the shadiness (or as White would call it, distastefulness) begins and ends - with that rhetorical disconnect. Some, like James Katoulas, CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Typhon Capital, consider it a form of hypocrisy.

"They have [former New Jersey Governor Jon] Corzine raising money for them while trashing hedge funds," said Katoulas.

The truth is, even Clinton's negative rhetoric on Wall Street won't stop some people from giving thousands of dollars to the Clinton campaign. Especially not if their Democrats.

"Honestly at the end of the day no one has any shame any more. If supporting Clintons makes someone more money or gives them more power, they will instantly overlook their incessant corruption," he added.

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That is if they believe in that corruption in the first place.

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