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Connecticut AG Subpoenas AIGers For Testimony On Bonuses
This could be good.
Not content with letting New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo hog the spotlight, his Connecticut counterpart, Richard Blumenthal, has subpoenaed several AIG employees, incluing CEO Ed Liddy, to testify about those bonuses, totaling $165 million, at a legislative hearing March 26th.
Said Blumenthal in a statement:
Now living off supersized taxpayer-paid bonuses, these AIG employees have a moral and legal obligation to appear at this legislative hearing and disclose details about corporate compensation to employees," said Blumenthal in a written statement.
AIG Financial Products, the unit that caused the company's collapse and got those bonuses, is absed in Wilton, Connecticut.
These hearings should be more good theater, but it's worth asking: given that Liddy has already testified, and Cuomo will likely soon release the names of the bonus recipients, what more pertinent information will AIG employees be able to provide? Guess we'll find out...
Josh
Zachary
Perhaps Mr. Blumenthal will read this tidbit from Marcy Wheeler/Emptywheel, plus the links therein, before he finalizes his list of questions.
Is AIG’s Reinsurance Side a House of Cards, Too?
There's WAY more that these clowns need to be questioned about than those bonuses. In fact, if Marcy's right, the bonuses might have just been hush-money.
March 20, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
All well and good to go after the "Lindy Englands" the small fry..but its becoming more and more obvious there has been an ongoing massive fraud...a huge fraud involving the Treasury, FED and Government...probably going all the way back to Reagan/Greenspan...helped along by Bush/Clinton/Bush...I doubt we will ever know..to many of our "exalted" leaders (probably previous and present) involved in what might be called a conspiracy to enslave "the people" for the good of Wall Street, Corporations and the extremely wealthy....no wonder todays politicians (most of them dispise and lie about FDR) he stopped it for awhile...took them years to undo it and get back to business as usual....if President Obama really wants to change..he will have to take the "bull" by the horns roll back the tax cuts to before Reagan and enact Shermans Anti-trust laws again....would he survive..?
March 20, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
"AIG Financial Products, the unit that caused the company's collapse and got those bonuses, is absed in Wilton, Connecticut."
Absed? Oh, BASED!
March 20, 2009 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
The most dangerous place in Connecticut is between Dick Blumenthal and a TV camera.
March 20, 2009 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
My first thought, too. The announcement that he's taking on Dodd in the primary in three ... two ... one ...
March 21, 2009 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Two huge credit unions were shut down today by regulators.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123759196056600541.html#mod=djemalertNEWS
$57 billion in combine assets. IndyMac was only $38 billion in assets.
March 20, 2009 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have to start wondering why it was AIG that was chosen as the recipient of $160 billion (remember, however, that the original amount in Oct 2008 was $700 billion).
Could it have been deliberate, in that AIG's contractual relationships with Goldman Sachs and other large investment banks meant that they would quickly suck up 90% of the $160 billion?
Is that the real reason that Larry Summers was so adamant about contracts? The contracts in the bonuses are only 1/1000th of the bailout total - perhaps it is the contracts between AIG and Goldman, AIG and Barclays, etc. that are the real issue?
March 21, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
P.S.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2009/03/german_and_fren.html
U.S. AIG counterparty bailout payments, in billions:
Goldman Sachs 12.9 US
States and Cities 12 US
Merrill Lynch 6.8 US
Bank of America 5.2 US
Citigroup 2.3 US
Wachovia 1.5 US
Morgan Stanley 1.2 US
AIG International Inc. 0.6 US
JPMorgan 0.4 US
Citadel 0.2 US
Paloma Securities 0.2 US
Reconstruction Finance 0.2 US
43.5 US
Global summary of AIG bailout payments, in billions:
US 43.5
France 19.1
Germany 16.7
UK 12.7
Switzerland 5.4
Netherlands 2.3
Canada 1.1
Spain 0.3
Denmark 0.2
Total 101.3
March 21, 2009 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Speculation confirmed, more or less.
"NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Goldman Sachs' Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said Friday that the firm rejected overtures from American International Group to settle trades with the troubled insurer at a discount, instead holding the company to the letter of its contracts."
That's why Larry Summers was pounding the contractual theme - or was it Henry Paulson? I'm having a hard time telling the Bush finance team from the Obama finance team, to tell the truth...
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200903201221DOWJONESDJONLINE000717_FORTUNE5.htm
March 21, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Money quote:
The hearing ended with Kanjorski threatening to pass legislation to force Herz to loosen standards. In fact, the pressure was so intense that the FASB. The pressure was so intense that the FASB announced the new rule after only a week. The Chairman of the full committee, Barney Frank, seems to have accepted it as a foregone conclusion. This is absolutely unacceptable. Democrats pressing for this, like Paul Kanjorski and Gary Ackerman, need to stop. Go-along Democrats like Senator Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank need to stop going along. As a Democrat myself, I can complain about the Republicans all I want but the fact remains, the Democrats hold power and it is only because of pressure from Democrats that this loosening is being rushed to implementation. At the end of the day, loosening mark-to-market will only allow the fraud that is the current financial system to be perpetrated, er, I mean, perpetuated.
More:
Correctly Political Action Alert: Can We Stop The Deepening Fraud of "Unobservable Inputs"?!?
March 22, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let's hope they let something slip that will lead to indictments for issuing fraudulent financial statements or the like and get their asses in jail and all their assets forfeited as the gains of an illegal enterprise.
March 22, 2009 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink