Billionaire investor Ron Baron says former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said at an event he attended that the Federal Reserve will take five year to end its easing program.

Baron told CNBC that he interpreted Geithner's remarks to mean it would take that long for the Fed to taper its quantitative easing (QE) program. The central bank is currently buying $85 billion of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities a month.

"As far as the ending of quantitative easing, [Geithner] thought that was going to, when it ultimately began, take five years — a five-year process to wind down these bond purchases," Baron said.

Editor's Note: Economist Unapologetically Calls Out Bernanke, Obama for Mishandling Economy. See What They Did

"That doesn't mean that's what's going to happen. That's just his opinion of what's going to happen."

As for interest rates, Baron stated that Geithner said it "wasn't likely that the [short-term] interest rates would rise anytime soon. [Geithner] meant for years and years."

"I always believe that when people are telling me something, they're telling me something for a reason. He was telling us something also presumably to try to calm the market."

The federal funds rate target stands at a record low of zero to 0.25 percent, and the Fed has stated that it doesn't plan to raise the target until unemployment drops to 6.5 percent. The jobless rate stood at 7.6 percent in May.

On Thursday, three Fed officials gave speeches indicating investors had overreacted to comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week that the Fed may start tapering its QE later this year.

Meanwhile, the White House has begun putting together a short list of candidates to succeed Bernanke, as he has indicated he won't seek reappointment when his term ends in January, knowledgeable sources told The Wall Street Journal.

Experts have speculated that candidates include Fed vice chairwoman Janet Yellen, Geithner and Lawrence Summers, former head of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council.

Editor's Note: Economist Unapologetically Calls Out Bernanke, Obama for Mishandling Economy. See What They Did