New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has received the names of the AIGers who got bonuses, and is weighing whether to release those names, his office has announced.
Cuomo had subpoenaed AIG for the names. Yesterday, the firm’s CEO, Ed Liddy, declined to tell Congress he would cooperate with the subpoena, citing concerns about the safety of employees whose names were released.
Cuomo’s full statement follows after the jump….
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO AIG
I have received the list of AIG FP employees who received retention payouts. Mr. Liddy testified in Congress yesterday that he intended to comply with our subpoena and expressed concern for employee safety. Mr. Liddy has in fact now complied with the subpoena. We are aware of the security concerns of AIG employees, and we will be sensitive to those issues by doing a risk assessment before releasing any individual’s name. The Attorney General’s Office is a law enforcement agency and is experienced in making these assessments.
As we perform our review, we will simultaneously be working with AIG over the next few days to determine which employees received payments and which chose to return the money they received.
The Attorney General’s Office will responsibly balance the public’s right to know how their tax dollars are spent with individual security, privacy rights, and corporate prerogative.
At this moment, with emotions running high, it is important that we proceed diligently, with care, reflection, and sober judgment.
We thank AIG for their compliance.