Will the DSK scandal reach all the way to Newport Beach, California? According to media reports, it just might. Mohamed El-Erian is being mentioned across the media landscape as a potential successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, although whether he wants the top job at the International Monetary Fund is an open question.

Mohamed El-Erian Pimco CEO and Co-CIO

After Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York over the weekend on sexual assault charges, the IMF has named its No. 2 official, John Lipsky as acting head. However, the IMF announced on May 12 -- days before Strauss-Kahn got embroiled in the scandal -- that Lipsky will leave his post in August.

Immediately after the scandal broke, El-Erian wrote a blog post for Reuters, where he outlined the issues the IMF would have to face to replace DSK, suggesting the fund take a "go-slow" approach and hire someone who is well-qualified for the job using a sound process, rather than take its usual feudalistic approach to hiring.

Within hours of the blog post, whoever, reporters started to link his name to the top IMF job. CNN even ranked him number one when it listed possible candidates.

"Here's a snapshot of some of the potential successors the market is putting its money on for the top job," CNN wrote. "Tellingly, many of them are from developing world economies. Many of them have also spent time at the IMF or at the World Bank."

Other media outlets that have named El-Erian as among the potential successors include Reuters and The Associated Press.

Will Bill Gross be left alone in Los Angeles? The answer likely depends on what's the truth behind the stories. Either reporters are purely speculating bsaed upon putting together a number of facts, such as his 15-year career at the IMF, his being Egyptian, his Harvard connection and his widespread credibility in the financial world. Or El-Erian has somehow let slip that he has an interest in the job.

Which of these is true, there's no way to know without talking to El-Erian himself. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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