Suze Orman offered a fiery response to New York Times columnist Ron Lieber for his piece on her new debit card on Tuesday.
The finance guru introduced a prepaid debit card on Monday. Lieber suggested that it could pose a conflict of interest for CNBC, where Orman is a host. He wrote, "It is worth noting that if I tried to introduce my own card, the ethics editor would laugh me out of the New York Times building."
Orman smacked that suggestion down in an interview with Arianna Huffington at the Huffington Post Media Group offices on Tuesday. Orman reiterated her pledge not to discuss any cards on television, and also distinguished between her role and Lieber's. "Ron can say what he wants. It would be ridiculous to go in and try to create a debit card on his own when that is his job, to evaluate other things," she said.
She alleged that the real conflict of interest belonged to a website that ran a negative piece about the card, while featuring ads for other cards. She did not name the New York Times, though the page for Lieber's column does carry ads for financial products.
After staunchly defending her card, she also dismissed the criticism of reporters who she said have been wrong over the years.
"You can't see that in others which isn't true for yourself. If you're thinking that I'm profit-motivating and I'm this and I'm that, Ron Lieber, I would take a good look in the mirror because something isn't quite right with you, sir," she said.