Originally Posted by sasvermont
2nd UPDATE:73 At AIG Received Bonuses Of $1 Million Or More - NY AG
In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on Tuesday, Cuomo said the top 10 bonus recipients combined received $42 million, with the top recipient getting more than $6.4 million.
Cuomo has blamed the unit for the insurer's near collapse last year. The attorney general said 11 people who have left the company received retention bonuses of $1 million or more, with one person getting $4.6 million.
"Again, these payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG," Cuomo said in the letter. "Thus, last week, AIG made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing taxpayer bailout. Something is deeply wrong with this outcome."
On Monday, Cuomo subpoenaed AIG seeking details on who received retention bonuses in the financial products unit and copies of the contracts underlying the bonuses. In his letter, Cuomo said AIG has refused to provide the names of those who received bonuses.
Over the weekend, news surfaced that AIG had paid $165 million in retention bonuses to individuals in the financial products unit on Friday.
The $165 million is the latest installment of a retention program that is slated to pay the unit's employees about $450 million. AIG had previously paid out $55 million, and an additional $230 million is pending for 2009.
The bonuses have sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and among taxpayers.
On Tuesday, the White House said it is looking into "all remedies" to recoup the bonuses after President Barack Obama denounced the payouts on Monday.
"This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," Obama said Monday. "Under these circumstances, it's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay."
Frank, D-Mass., told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that the U.S. government, which now controls an 80% equity stake in AIG, should assert its ownership of the insurer in order to block the retention payments. Frank said the government had a better chance of prevailing in court if it acted as an owner, rather than as a regulator intervening in the private sector.
Frank's committee is expected to hold a hearing on the AIG bonuses on Wednesday.
Did anyone pay attention before all this happened?
BF's SO was on the board of some high flauting company that had a little to do with our econ problems?
Guard that henhouse!
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