American International Group, AIG, the same company that reported this month that it lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, making it the largest corporate loss in history, and which has benefited lately from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue, has paid more than $ 1 million to 73 of its high executives in its AIG Financial Products subsidiary, four of them receiving more than $ 4 million each. Among the receivers are 11 who no longer work at the company.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wrote in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, that: "Again, these payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary (Financial Products) whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG. 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."
To make things worse, Cuomo had previously send a subpoena to AIG, requesting the details of the retention bonuses' payment in the Financial Products subsidiary, but in his letter Cuomo revealed that AIG didn't inform anything of who had received the bonuses.
In response to this incredibly outraging money handling, Sen. Charles Grassley promptly proposed during a radio interview in Iowa City, referring to the executives who received the bonuses, that: “Obviously, maybe they ought to be removed, but I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide."
Casey Mills, spokesman of Sen. Grassley, swiftly clarified the senator wasn't telling the AIG executives to kill themselves, but meant that those who had accepted tax dollars and spend them on travel and bonuses were acting irresponsibly.
Overall, the bonuses have sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and among taxpayers, who are already angry at the bailout program favoring poorly managed companies.
The White House said it searching for "all remedies" to recover the bonuses, after President Barack Obama censured the disbursements. "This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," Obama said. "Under these circumstances, it's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay."
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wrote in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, that: "Again, these payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary (Financial Products) whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG. 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."
To make things worse, Cuomo had previously send a subpoena to AIG, requesting the details of the retention bonuses' payment in the Financial Products subsidiary, but in his letter Cuomo revealed that AIG didn't inform anything of who had received the bonuses.
In response to this incredibly outraging money handling, Sen. Charles Grassley promptly proposed during a radio interview in Iowa City, referring to the executives who received the bonuses, that: “Obviously, maybe they ought to be removed, but I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide."
Casey Mills, spokesman of Sen. Grassley, swiftly clarified the senator wasn't telling the AIG executives to kill themselves, but meant that those who had accepted tax dollars and spend them on travel and bonuses were acting irresponsibly.
Overall, the bonuses have sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and among taxpayers, who are already angry at the bailout program favoring poorly managed companies.
The White House said it searching for "all remedies" to recover the bonuses, after President Barack Obama censured the disbursements. "This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," Obama said. "Under these circumstances, it's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your comment here