Consumer Law

AIG: Ain?t Too Proud to Beg For $165 Million In Undeserved Bonuses

By Andy Hoffman

As regular readers of ThePopTort know, we were disgusted with AIG before being disgusted with AIG was cool.  And it wasn?t just its attacks on the civil justice system or attorneys for the injured, the rampant hypocrisy and fraud, or its repeated requests for taxpayer-funded bailout money  (a practice which began, incidentally, in the wake of 9/11 when they showed their patriotism by asking for another kind of government bailout).  It?s the whole kit and caboodle?or what President Obama referred to today in broad terms as AIG?s ?recklessness and greed.?  (The same ?recklessness and greed,? we might add, that justified their 30-year push for laws to weaken injured victims? legal rights, so-called ?tort reform.?)

To that end, Obama says he plans to do everything in his power to stop AIG from paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.  ?All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses,? said President Obama, calling the issue one of ?fundamental values.? ?Under these circumstances, it?s hard to understand how derivative traders at A.I.G. warranted any bonuses at all, much less $165 million in extra pay,? said Obama.

New York AG Andrew Cuomo is also getting in on the act, demanding information about employees set to receive a mammoth chunk of taxpayer bailout money under the threat of subpoena.   He is also demanding the contracts guaranteeing the bonuses and the names of individuals who developed and negotiated the agreements, in an effort to determine whether the payments would constitute ?fraudulent conveyances? under New York State law.

?Taxpayers of this country are now supporting A.I.G., and they deserve at the very least to know how their money is being spent,? said Cuomo. ?And we owe it to the taxpayers to take every possible action to stop unwarranted bonus payments to those who caused the AIG meltdown in the first place. ?  Amen!

Full post as published by ThePopTort on March 16, 2009 (boomark / email).