The US government leapt headfirst into financial markets to avert a meltdown. Now, as fears of an economic collapse recede, it has hired a chief restructuring officer to help it fix - and eventually exit from - some of the biggest firms that needed government aid.

Jim Millstein, a restructuring expert with investment banking firm Lazard, has been tapped by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to help the government untangle some of its biggest investments, including insurer American International Group, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Citigroup and Bank of America.