AIG

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</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">history</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-15-2020/">https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-15-2020/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><a href="https://www.risingupwithsonali.com/2019/07/17/swindlers-all-a-brief-history-of-government-business-frauds-from-alexander-hamilton-to-aig/">https://www.risingupwithsonali.com/2019/07/17/swindlers-all-a-brief-history-of-government-business-frauds-from-alexander-hamilton-to-aig/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;MICHAEL POWELSON – Presidents throughout American history have enabled corporate excess even at the expense of public welfare. And yet they promise to uphold the Constitution and the rights of all Americans. Making the case that our economic and political system are inherently geared toward corruption, my next guest has written a history book about it.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Michael Powelson, teaches at LA Valley College and Cal State University Channel Islands. His new book is Swindlers All, a Brief History of Government Business Frauds from Alexander Hamilton to AIG.</font></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>could have bought GM for 3 bill$, instead gave 149b, cost us 11b never get back, Geitner; GS and AIG will never pay back</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cyber chapter:&nbsp;</font></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-30120bdc-0644-ee0f-156d-b46d7e332965"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">In September 10, 2010 US Chamber Watch filed charges with the IRS that the US CoC was laundering charity money for a group connected to AIG </span></font></p><div><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">
</span></div></span><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">they're baaaaack:&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nomi prins 12/17 AN</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/economy/next-financial-crisis-will-be-worse-last-one">https://www.alternet.org/economy/next-financial-crisis-will-be-worse-last-one</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...O<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">n the flip side of that euphoria however, is the fact that the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/u-s-job-growth-picks-up-flat-wages-raise-consumer-spending-worries-idUSKBN1D308L" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">median wage</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;rose just 2.4 percent and has remained effectively stagnant relative to inflation. And although the unemployment rate fell to a 17-year low of 4.1 percent, the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.7 percent, its lowest level in nearly four decades—particularly difficult for new entrants to the workforce, such as students graduating under a $1.3 trillion pile of unrepayable or very challenging&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-bubble-investment-is-private-abs-goldman-2017-12" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">student loan debt</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. (Not to worry though: Goldman Sachs is on that, promoting a way to profit from this debt by stuffing it into other assets and selling those off to investors, a la shades of the subprime mortgage crisis.)</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those of us living in the actual world without billionaire family pedigrees possess a healthy dose of skepticism over the “Make America Great Again” sect that believes Trump has transformed America “hugely,” for record-setting markets don’t imply economic stability, nor do 40 percent corporate tax cuts translate into 40 percent wage growth. We can march forward into 2018 carrying that knowledge with us.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But first, a recap. For the U.S. financial system, 2017 was marked by five main themes: The GOP’s “You All Just Got a Lot Richer” Corporate Tax Reduction Plan; Big Banks Still Bad; The Fed’s Minor Policy Shift; Debt; and Deregulators Appointed to Positions of Regulatory Authority.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Banks Are Still Big and Bad</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Big Six banks have paid billions of dollars in settlements for a variety of frauds committed before and since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, but that didn’t keep them from tallying up new fines in 2017</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, agreed to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.corp-research.org/jpmorganchase" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">pay $53 million in fines</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;for scamming African-American and Latino mortgage borrowers with disproportionately higher rates than for white borrowers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.corp-research.org/citigroup" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">fined Citigroup $28.8 million</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;for not disclosing foreclosure-avoiding actions. Bank of America&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/28/judge-fines-bank-america-45-million-for-heartless-treatment-mortgage-borrowers.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">got fined $45 million</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;for its foul treatment of a California couple trying to save their home.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the Big Six bank that received the most attention in 2017, as it did in 2016, was&nbsp;<a href="https://financialadvisoriq.com/search/search/advanced?referrer_module=companyTag&q=%22Wells+Fargo%22" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wells Fargo</a>. The number of people affected by its fake-account creation scandal grew from 2 million reported in 2016 to about 3.5 million. That increase resulted in Wells Fargo expanding its associated&nbsp;<a href="https://financialadvisoriq.com/c/1824523/211663" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">class-action settlement</a>&nbsp;to $142 million.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wells Fargo was mired in smaller scandals, too. For instance, it charged 800,000 customers for auto insurance they didn’t need, raised mortgage rates for certain customers without properly disclosing it was going to, and made a bunch of unauthorized adjustments to people’s mortgages.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No Glass-Steagall Reinstatement, More Deregulation</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The idea of reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 featured in both the Democratic and the Republican National Committees’ platforms during the campaign season. But Trump’s treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, made it clear multiple times there would be no such push from the administration, arguing against doing so before </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">senators including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To emphasize his disdain for regulation and oversight, <b>Mnuchin</b> also pushed the Financial Stability Oversight Council, over which he presides, to vote 6 to 3 to rescind American International Group’s designation as posing a potential threat to the U.S. financial system. Thus, AIG will no longer be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-bc-us--aig-systemic-risk-20170929-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">paying penance for its role</a>&nbsp;at the epicenter of the last financial crisis by filing regular risk reports anymore. Federal Reserve Chair<b> Janet Yellen also supported the move.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group</a></font></p><p>brochure fluff</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">American International Group, Inc.</b>, also known as&nbsp;<b style="">AIG</b>, is an American multinational insurance corporation with more than 88 million customers in 130 countries. As of 2015 AIG companies employed around 65,000 people.</span><sup id="cite_ref-2015_AR_5-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-2015_AR-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[5]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The company operates through three businesses: AIG Property Casualty, AIG Life and Retirement, and United Guaranty Corporation (UGC). AIG Property Casualty provides insurance products for commercial, institutional, and individual customers. AIG Life and Retirement provides life insurance and retirement services in the United States. UGC focuses on mortgage guaranty insurance and mortgage insurance. AIG also provides financial services in global capital markets operations, including direct investment and retained interests.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AIG was a central player in the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%9308" class="mw-redirect" title="Financial crisis of 2007–08" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">financial crisis of 2008</a>.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It was bailed out by the federal government for $180 billion, and the government took control. The&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crisis_Inquiry_Commission" title="Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission</a>&nbsp;(FCIC) of the US government concluded AIG failed primarily because it sold massive amounts of insurance without hedging its investment. Its <b>enormous sales of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap" title="Credit default swap" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">credit default swaps</a></b>&nbsp;were made without putting up initial collateral, setting aside capital reserves, or hedging its exposure — a profound failure in corporate governance, particularly its risk-management practices."<sup id="cite_ref-Phil_Angelides_2011_352_6-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-Phil_Angelides_2011_352-6" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">[6]</a></sup></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AIG's corporate headquarters are in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City" title="New York City" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">New York City</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, its Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) headquarters are in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">London</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and its Asian headquarters are in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong" title="Hong Kong" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Hong Kong</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The company serves 98% of the Fortune 500 companies, 96% of Fortune 1000, and 90% of Fortune Global 500, and insures 40% of Forbes 400 Richest Americans. AIG was ranked 40th largest company in the 2014 Fortune 500 list.</span><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[7]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the 2014 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG is the 42nd-largest public company in the world.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[8]</a></sup>&nbsp;On March 31, 2015, AIG had a market capitalization of $75.04 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-9" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">[9]</a></sup></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#History" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">History</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#The_early_years:1919_to_1945" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">The early years: 1919 to 1945</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#International_and_domestic_expansion:1946_to_1959" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">International and domestic expansion: 1946 to 1959</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Reorganization_and_specialization:1960_to_1979" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Reorganization and specialization: 1960 to 1979</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#New_opportunities_and_directions:1980_to_1999" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">New opportunities and directions: 1980 to 1999</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Further_expansion_and_decline:2000_to_2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Further expansion and decline: 2000 to 2012</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Growth" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.5.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Growth</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Accounting_scandal" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.5.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Accounting scandal</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Expansion_to_the_credit_default_insurance_market" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.5.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Expansion to the credit default insurance market</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Liquidity_crisis_and_government_bailout" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.5.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Liquidity crisis and government bailout</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Modern_era:2012_to_present" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1.6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Modern era: 2012 to present</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Bailout_litigation" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Bailout litigation</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Money_damages" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">2.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Money damages</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Corporate_governance" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Corporate governance</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Board_of_directors" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Board of directors</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Business" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Business</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Subsidiaries" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Subsidiaries</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">See also</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">7</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#Further_reading" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">8</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Further reading</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">9</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External links</span></font></a></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="History"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">History</font></span></h2><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R</font></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Reorganization_and_specialization:1960_to_1979" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">eorganization and specialization: 1960 to 1979</span></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 1960, C.V. Starr hired&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_R.Greenberg" title="Maurice R. Greenberg" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Maurice R. Greenberg</a>&nbsp;to develop an international accident and health business.</b><sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[20]</a></sup>&nbsp;Two years later, Mr. Greenberg reorganized one of C.V. Starr’s U.S. holdings into a successful multiple line carrier.<sup id="cite_ref-Fallen_Giant_19-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-Fallen_Giant-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[19]</a></sup>&nbsp;Greenberg focused on selling insurance through independent brokers rather than agents to eliminate agent salaries. Using brokers, AIU could price insurance according to its potential return even if it suffered decreased sales of certain products for great lengths of time with very little extra expense. In 1967, American International Group, Inc. (AIG) was incorporated as a unifying umbrella organization for most of C.V. Starr’s general and life insurance businesses.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[21]</a></sup>&nbsp;In 1968, Starr named Greenberg his successor. The company went public in 1969.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[22]</a></sup></font></p><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AIG_Headquarters.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AIG_Headquarters.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AIG Headquarters in New York</font></a></div></div></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AIG_Headquarters.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 1970s presented many challenges for AIG as operations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia were curtailed or ceased altogether due to the changing political landscape. However, AIG continued to expand its markets by introducing specialized energy, transportation, and shipping products to serve the needs of niche industries.<sup id="cite_ref-The_AIG_Story_23-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;" /></font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-The_AIG_Story-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[23]</a>&nbsp;By 1979, with a growing workforce and a worldwide network of offices, AIG offered clients superior technical and <b>risk management skills </b>in an increasingly competitive marketplace.<sup id="cite_ref-The_AIG_Story_23-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-The_AIG_Story-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[23]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="New_opportunities_and_directions:1980_to_1999">New opportunities and directions: 1980 to 1999</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: New opportunities and directions: 1980 to 1999" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the 1980s, AIG continued expanding its market distribution and worldwide network by offering a wide range of specialized products, including pollution liability<sup id="cite_ref-The_AIG_Story_23-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-The_AIG_Story-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[23]</a></sup>&nbsp;and political risk.<sup id="cite_ref-The_AIG_Story_23-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-The_AIG_Story-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[23]</a></sup>&nbsp;In 1984, AIG listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[24]</a></sup>&nbsp;Throughout the 1990s, AIG developed new sources of income through diverse investments, including the acquisition of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), a provider of leased aircraft to the airline industry.<sup id="cite_ref-Laing_10-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-Laing-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[10]</a></sup>&nbsp;In 1992, AIG received the first foreign insurance license granted in over 40 years by the<b> Chinese </b>government. Within the U.S., AIG acquired SunAmerica Inc. a retirement savings company, in 1999.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[25]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Further_expansion_and_decline:2000_to_2012">Further expansion and decline: 2000 to 2012</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Further expansion and decline: 2000 to 2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
The early 2000s saw a marked period of growth as AIG acquired American General Corporation, a leading domestic life insurance and annuities provider,<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[26]</a></sup><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">and AIG entered new markets including India.</span><sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[27]</a></sup><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">In February 2000, AIG created a strategic advisory venture team with the</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Group" class="mw-redirect" title="Blackstone Group" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" rgb="rgb">Blackstone Group</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">and</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissinger_Associates" title="Kissinger Associates" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" rgb="rgb">Kissinger Associates</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">"to provide financial advisory services to corporations seeking high level independent strategic advice."</span><sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[28]</a></sup><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" color="color" rgb="rgb">AIG was an investor in Blackstone from 1998 to March 2012, when it sold all of its shares in the company. Blackstone acted as an adviser for AIG during the 2007-2008 financial crisis.</span><sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[29]</a></sup></span></h4><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Growth" style="font-weight: normal;">Growth</span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In November 2004, AIG reached a US$126&nbsp;million settlement with the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Securities_and_Exchange_Commission" title="U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Justice Department</a>&nbsp;partly resolving a number of regulatory matters,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> but the <b>company must still cooperate with investigators continuing to probe the sale of a non-traditional insurance product</b>.</span><sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[30]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Accounting_scandal">Accounting scandal</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Accounting scandal" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2005, AIG became embroiled in a series of fraud investigations conducted by the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Securities_and_Exchange_Commission" title="U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Securities and Exchange Commission</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">U.S. Justice Department</a>, and&nbsp;<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Attorney_General" class="mw-redirect" title="New York State Attorney General" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">New York State Attorney General</a>'s Office</b>. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Greenberg was ousted amid an accounting scandal in February 2005.</b></span><sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[31]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[32]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[33]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The New York Attorney General's investigation led to a $1.6&nbsp;billion fine for AIG and criminal charges for some of its executives.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-34" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">[34]</a></sup></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 1, 2005, investigations conducted by outside counsel at the request of AIG's Audit Committee and the consultation with AIG's independent auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP resulted in AIG's decision to restate its financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000, the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30, 2004 and 2003 and the quarter ended December 31, 2003.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[35]</a></sup>&nbsp;On November 9, 2005, the company was said to have delayed its third-quarter earnings report because it had to restate earlier financial results, to correct accounting errors.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[36]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Expansion_to_the_credit_default_insurance_market">Expansion to the credit default insurance market</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Expansion to the credit default insurance market" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_J.Sullivan" title="Martin J. Sullivan" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Martin J. Sullivan</a>&nbsp;became CEO of the company in 2005. He began his career at AIG as a clerk in its London office in 1970.<sup id="cite_ref-NYT-Andrews-2008-09-16_37-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-NYT-Andrews-2008-09-16-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[37]</a></sup>&nbsp;AIG then took on tens of billions of dollars of risk associated with mortgages. It insured tens of billions of dollars of derivatives against default, but did not purchase reinsurance to hedge that risk. Secondly, it used collateral on deposit to buy mortgage-backed securities. When losses hit the mortgage market in 2007-2008, AIG had to pay out insurance claims and also replace the losses in its collateral accounts.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[38]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AIG purchased the remaining 39% that it did not own of online auto insurance specialist&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Insurance" title="21st Century Insurance" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">21st Century Insurance</a>&nbsp;in 2007 for $749&nbsp;million.<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[39]</a></sup>&nbsp;With the failure of the parent company and the continuing recession in late 2008, AIG rebranded its insurance unit to 21st Century Insurance.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[40]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[41]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On June 11, 2008, three stockholders, collectively owning 4% of the outstanding stock of AIG, delivered a letter to the Board of Directors of AIG seeking to oust CEO Martin Sullivan and make certain other management and Board of Directors changes. This letter was the latest volley in what&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal" title="The Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Wall Street Journal</a></i>&nbsp;called a "public spat" between the company's board and management, on the one hand, and its key stockholders, and former CEO Maurice Greenberg on the other hand.<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[42]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On June 15, 2008, after disclosure of financial losses and subsequent to a falling stock price, Sullivan resigned and was replaced by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_B.Willumstad" title="Robert B. Willumstad" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert B. Willumstad</a>, Chairman of the AIG Board of Directors since 2006. Willumstad was forced by the US government to step down and was replaced by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Liddy" title="Ed Liddy" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ed Liddy</a>&nbsp;on September 17, 2008.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[43]</a></sup>&nbsp;AIG's board of directors named&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Benmosche" title="Bob Benmosche" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bob Benmosche</a>&nbsp;CEO on August 3, 2009, to replace Mr. Liddy, who earlier in the year announced his retirement.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[44]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Liquidity_crisis_and_government_bailout">Liquidity crisis and government bailout</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Liquidity crisis and government bailout" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Further information:&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis" title="Subprime mortgage crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Subprime mortgage crisis</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%9308" class="mw-redirect" title="Financial crisis of 2007–08" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Financial crisis of 2007–08</a></font></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AIG faced the most difficult financial crisis in its history when a series of events unfolded in late 2008. AIG was bailed out by the federal government for $180 billion, and the government took control. The&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crisis_Inquiry_Commission" title="Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission</a>&nbsp;(FCIC) made the major government study of the crisis. It concluded in January 2011:</font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Commission concludes AIG failed and was rescued by the government primarily because its enormous sales of credit default swaps were made without putting up the initial collateral, setting aside capital reserves, or hedging its exposure – a profound failure in corporate governance, particularly its risk management practices. AIG's failure was possible because of the sweeping deregulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, including credit default swaps, which effectively eliminated federal and state regulation of these products, including capital and margin requirements that would have lessened the likelihood of AIG's failure.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Phil_Angelides_2011_352_6-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-Phil_Angelides_2011_352-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[45]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[46]</a></sup></font></dd></dl><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AIG had sold credit protection through its London unit in the form of&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap" title="Credit default swap" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">credit default swaps</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(CDSs) on&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateralized_debt_obligation" title="Collateralized debt obligation" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">collateralized debt obligations</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(CDOs) but they had declined in value.</span><sup id="cite_ref-New_York_Times_47-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-New_York_Times-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[47]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[48]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The AIG Financial Products division, headed by&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cassano" title="Joseph Cassano" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Joseph Cassano</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, in London, had entered into credit default swaps to insure $441 billion worth of securities originally rated AAA. Of those securities, $57.8 billion were structured debt securities backed by subprime loans.</span><sup id="cite_ref-New_York_Times_47-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-New_York_Times-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[47]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[49]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;As a result, AIG’s credit rating was downgraded and it was required to post additional collateral with its trading counter-parties, leading to a liquidity crisis that began on September 16, 2008, and essentially bankrupted all of AIG. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The United States Federal Reserve Bank stepped in, announcing the creation of a secured credit facility of up to US$85 billion to prevent the company's collapse, enabling AIG to deliver additional collateral to its credit default swap trading partners. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The credit facility was secured by the stock in AIG-owned subsidiaries in the form of warrants for a 79.9% equity stake in the company and the right to suspend dividends to previously issued common and preferred stock.</span><sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[50]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-51" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[51]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[52]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The AIG board accepted the terms of the Federal Reserve rescue package that same day, making it the largest government bailout of a private company in U.S. history.</span><sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[53]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[54]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On March 17, 2009, AIG announced that they were paying $165 million in executive bonuses, prompting the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIG_bonus_payments_controversy" title="AIG bonus payments controversy" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">AIG bonus payments controversy</a></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Total bonuses for the financial unit could reach $450 million and bonuses for the entire company could reach $1.2 billion. President Barack Obama, who voted for&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Asset_Relief_Program" title="Troubled Asset Relief Program" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">TARP</a>&nbsp;as a Senator<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[55]</a></sup>&nbsp;responded to the planned payments by saying "[I]t's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"<sup id="cite_ref-56" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[56]</a></sup>&nbsp;Politicians on both sides of the Congressional aisle reacted with outrage to the planned bonuses. Political commentators and journalists expressed an equally bipartisan outrage.</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height: 1; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[</span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2013)">citation needed</span></a></i><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">]</span></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Due to the Q3 2011 net loss widening, on November 3, 2011, AIG shares plunged 49 percent year to date. The insurer's board approved a share buyback of as much as $1 billion.</span><sup id="cite_ref-57" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-57" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-57" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">57]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AIG since September 2008 marketed its assets to pay off its government loans. A global decline in the valuation of insurance businesses, and the weakening financial condition of potential bidders, challenged its efforts.<sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[58]</a></sup>&nbsp;AIG closed on the sale of its&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford_Steam_Boiler_Inspection_and_Insurance_Company" title="Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Hartford Steam Boiler</a>&nbsp;unit on March 31, 2009, to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Re" title="Munich Re" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Munich Re</a>&nbsp;for $742 million, which was announced December 22, 2008.<sup id="cite_ref-59" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-59" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[59]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-60" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[60]</a></sup>&nbsp;On April 16, 2009, AIG announced plans to sell 21st Century Insurance subsidiary to Farmers Insurance Group for $1.9 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-61" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[61]</a></sup>&nbsp;June 10, 2009. AIG sold down its majority ownership of reinsurer Transatlantic Re.<sup id="cite_ref-62" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-62" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[62]</a></sup>&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal" title="The Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Wall Street Journal</a></i>&nbsp;reported on September 7, 2009, that&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Century_Regional_Developments_Limited" class="mw-redirect" title="Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pacific Century Group</a>&nbsp;had agreed to pay $500 million for a part of American International Group's asset management business, and that they also expected to pay an additional $200&nbsp;million to AIG in carried interest and other payments linked to future performance of the business.<sup id="cite_ref-63" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-63" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[63]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AIG agreed in March 2010 to sell its American Life Insurance Co. (ALICO) to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion in cash and MetLife stock</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-64" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-64" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[64]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_L.P." title="Bloomberg L.P." style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Bloomberg L.P.</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;reported on March 29 that after almost three months of delays, AIG had completed the $500&nbsp;million sale of a portion of its asset management business, branded PineBridge Investments, to the Asia-based&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Century_Regional_Developments_Limited" class="mw-redirect" title="Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Pacific Century Group</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-65" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-65" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[65]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Investment_Group" title="Fortress Investment Group" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Fortress Investment Group</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;purchased 80% of the interest in financing company&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springleaf" class="mw-redirect" title="Springleaf" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">American General Finance</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in August 2010.</span><sup id="cite_ref-66" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-66" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[66]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;AIG in September sold AIG Starr and AIG Edison, two of its Japan-based companies, to Prudential Financial for $4.2 billion in cash and $600 million in assumption of third party AIG debt by Prudential.</span><sup id="cite_ref-MarketWatch_67-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-MarketWatch-67" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[67]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-MarketWatch_67-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-MarketWatch-67" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[67]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;On November 1, AIG announced it has raised $36.71 billion from both the sale of ALICO and its IPO of AIA. Proceeds go specifically to pay off FRB of New York loan.</span><sup id="cite_ref-68" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-68" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[68]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In October 2010 the WSJ reported that a family sued AIG for alleged complicity in a '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger-originated_life_insurance" title="Stranger-originated life insurance" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">stranger-originated life insurance</a>' scheme, whereby AIG managers allegedly welcomed people without an&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurable_interest" title="Insurable interest" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">insurable interest</a>&nbsp;to take out life insurance policies against others.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> The case involved&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JB_Carlson" title="JB Carlson" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">JB Carlson</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;and Germaine Tomlinson, and was one of many similar lawsuits in the US at the time.</span><sup id="cite_ref-69" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-69" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[69]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was reported in January 2011, that AIG sold its Taiwanese life insurance company, Nan Shan Life, to a consortium of buyers for $2.16 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-70" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-70" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[70]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Modern_era:2012_to_present">Modern era: 2012 to present</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Modern era: 2012 to present" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 7, 2012, the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury" title="United States Department of the Treasury" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States Department of the Treasury</a>&nbsp;announced an offering of 188.5 million shares of AIG for a total of $5.8 billion. The sale reduced Treasury’s stake in AIG to 61 percent, from 70 percent before the transaction.<sup id="cite_ref-71" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-71" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[71]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 6, 2012, AIG sold $2 billion of its investment in AIA to repay government loans. The board also approved a $5 billion stock repurchase of government-owned shares in AIA.<sup id="cite_ref-72" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-72" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[72]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 14, 2012, the Department of Treasury completed its fifth sale of AIG common stock, with proceeds of approximately $20.7 billion, reducing the Treasury’s ownership stake in AIG to approximately 15.9 percent from 53 percent. Government commitments were fully recovered, and Treasury and the FRBNY to date had received a combined positive return of approximately $15.1 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-73" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-73" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[73]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On October 12, 2012, AIG announced a five and a half year agreement to sponsor six New Zealand-based rugby teams, including world champion All Blacks. The AIG logo and the Adidas logo, the league’s primary sponsor, will be displayed on the league’s team jerseys.</span><sup id="cite_ref-74" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-74" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[74]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Department of the Treasury in December 2012 published an itemized list of the loans, stock purchases, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and other investments engaged in with AIG, the amount AIG paid back and the positive return on the loans and investments to the government.<sup id="cite_ref-75" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-75" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[75]</a></sup>&nbsp;Treasury said that it and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provided a total $182.3 billion to AIG, which paid back a total $205 billion, for a total positive return, or profit, to the government of $22.7 billion. In addition, AIG sold off a number of its own assets to raise money to pay back the government.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On December 14, 2012, the Treasury Department sold the last of its AIG stock in its sixth stock stale </b>for a total of approximately $7.6 billion. In total, the Treasury Department realized a gain of more than $22 billion from the sale of AIG common stock and $0.9 billion from the sale of AIG preferred stock.<sup id="cite_ref-76" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-76" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[76]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-77" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[77]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AIG began an advertising campaign on January 1, 2013, called "Thank You America," in which several company employees, including AIG President and CEO Robert Benmosche, talked directly to the camera and offered their thanks for the government assistance</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-78" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-78" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[78]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June 2015,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan" title="Taiwan" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Taiwan</a>’s Nan Shan Life Insurance acquired a stake in AIG’s subsidiary in Taiwan for a fee of $158 million.<sup id="cite_ref-79" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-79" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[79]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a January 2016 news release, AIG announced plans for an&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_public_offering" title="Initial public offering" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">initial public offering</a>&nbsp;of 19.9 percent of United Guaranty Corp., a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro,North_Carolina" title="Greensboro, North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Greensboro, North Carolina</a>-based provider of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenders_mortgage_insurance" title="Lenders mortgage insurance" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">mortgage insurance for lenders</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-80" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-80" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[80]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016, AIG announced a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_venture" title="Joint venture" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">joint venture</a>&nbsp;with&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Duperreault#Hamilton_Insurance_Group" title="Brian Duperreault" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Hamilton Insurance Group</a>&nbsp;and Two Sigma Investments to serve as insurance needs for small- to medium-sized enterprises. Industry veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Duperreault" title="Brian Duperreault" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Brian Duperreault</a>&nbsp;will be the chairman of the new entity, and Richard Friesenhahn, the executive vice president of U.S. casualty lines at AIG, will be CEO.<sup id="cite_ref-81" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-81" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[81]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In August 2016, AIG announced the sale of United Guaranty, its mortgage-guarantee unit, to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Capital_Group" title="Arch Capital Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Arch Capital Group</a>, a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda" title="Bermuda" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bermuda</a>-based insurer, for $3.4 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-82" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-82" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[82]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Bailout_litigation" style="">Bailout litigation</span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In January 2013, AIG's board discussed joining a lawsuit against the United States government because the bailout they received was unfair to their investors.<sup id="cite_ref-83" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-83" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[83]</a></sup>&nbsp;The idea was rejected.<sup id="cite_ref-84" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-84" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[84]</a></sup>&nbsp;AIG was criticized, however, when news stories soon appeared that it was considering joining a lawsuit brought by AIG shareholders and former CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_R.Greenberg" title="Maurice R. Greenberg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Maurice R. Greenberg</a>&nbsp;against the New York Federal Reserve Bank for what the plaintiffs considered unfair terms imposed on AIG by the New York Fed</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The AIG board announced on January 9, 2013, that the company would not join the lawsuit, and on January 9, 2013, Bob Benmosche told CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo that it would not be “socially acceptable” for AIG to sue the government, continuing that while people may be angry, "a deal’s a deal."</span><sup id="cite_ref-85" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-85" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[85]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-86" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-86" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[86]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The specific issue was whether the New York Federal Reserve transferred $18 billion in litigation claims on troubled mortgage debt through the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Lane_Transactions" title="Maiden Lane Transactions" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Maiden Lane Transactions</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, entities created by the Fed in 2008, and thus prevented AIG from recouping losses from insured banks. On May 7, 2013, Los Angeles U.S. District Judge,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Pfaelzer" title="Mariana Pfaelzer" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Mariana Pfaelzer</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, ruled that $7.3 billion of the disputed claims had, in fact, not been assigned. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AIG withdrew the case "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_prejudice" class="mw-redirect" title="With prejudice" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">with prejudice</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" on May 28, 2013. Praelzer was overseeing a suit between AIG and Bank of America (BAC-US) concerning possible misrepresentations by Merrill Lynch and Countrywide as to the quality of the mortgage portfolio. In signing the order closing the case, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">U.S. District Judge&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_A.Kaplan" title="Lewis A. Kaplan" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Lewis Kaplan</a>&nbsp;who also adjudicated the Maiden Lane case, American International Group Inc. et al. v. Maiden Lane II LLC, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-00951 admonished the Fed saying, "On the face of it" some of its actions "perhaps are unattractive and, indeed, wrongful.”</span><sup id="cite_ref-87" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-87" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[87</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-87" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the case was thrown out by the District Court, the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Second_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit</a>&nbsp;affirmed, holding that federal common law preempted any Delaware fiduciary duties owed to shareholders.<sup id="cite_ref-88" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-88" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[88]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Money_damages">Money damages</span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hank Greenberg next had&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boies" title="David Boies" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);"><b>David Boies</b></a>&nbsp;sue the U.S. Government separately for money damages in the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Federal_Claims" title="United States Court of Federal Claims" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">United States Court of Federal Claims</a>, prompting strong criticism.<sup id="cite_ref-89" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-89" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[89]</a></sup>&nbsp;After hearing thirty-seven days of testimony and requiring appearances by Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner and Hank Paulson,<sup id="cite_ref-90" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-90" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[90]</a></sup>&nbsp;Judge&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C.Wheeler" title="Thomas C. Wheeler" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Thomas C. Wheeler</a>&nbsp;ruled that the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_responses_to_the_subprime_crisis" title="Federal Reserve responses to the subprime crisis" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Federal Reserve responses to the subprime crisis</a>&nbsp;had been illegal.<sup id="cite_ref-91" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-91" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[91]</a></sup>&nbsp;The court reasoned the AIG&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailout" title="Bailout" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">bailout</a>&nbsp;had been an illegal&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaction" title="Exaction" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">exaction</a>&nbsp;because the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Act" title="Federal Reserve Act" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Federal Reserve Act</a>&nbsp;did not authorize the New York Fed to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalize" class="mw-redirect" title="Nationalize" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">nationalize</a>&nbsp;a corporation by owning its stock</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-92" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-92" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[92]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">However, Judge Wheeler did not award monetary compensation to the plaintiffs ruling that they did not suffer economic damage because "if the government had done nothing, the shareholders would have been left with 100 percent of nothing.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span><sup id="cite_ref-93" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-93" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[93]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Both parties appealed to the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Federal_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The New York Fed volunteered an amicus brief arguing that “Apart from an erroneous interpretation of a federal statute, the trial court’s opinion is riddled with material, clearly erroneous findings of fact</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.”</span><sup id="cite_ref-94" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-94" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[94]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Corporate_governance">Corporate governance</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Corporate governance" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Board_of_directors">Board of directors</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_International_Group&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Board of directors" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" color="color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Duperreault" title="Brian Duperreault" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Brian Duperreault</a>&nbsp;– President and Chief Executive Officer, American International Group, Inc.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.Don_Cornwell" title="W. Don Cornwell" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">W. Don Cornwell</a>&nbsp;– Former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Granite Broadcasting Corporation</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_R.Fischer&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Peter R. Fischer (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Peter R. Fischer</a>&nbsp;- Former Head of Fixed Income Portfolio Management<b>, Blackrock Inc.</b></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_H.Fitzpatrick(insurance_executive)&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="John H. Fitzpatrick (insurance executive) (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">John H. Fitzpatrick</a>&nbsp;– Chairman, Oak Street Management Co., LLC</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_S.Lynch&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Christopher S. Lynch (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Christopher S. Lynch</a>&nbsp;– Former Partner,<b> KPMG </b>LLP</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_J.Merksamer&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Samuel J. Merksamer (page does not exist)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88);">Samuel J. Merksamer</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;- Managing Director of&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icahn_Enterprises" title="Icahn Enterprises" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Icahn </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icahn_Enterprises" title="Icahn Enterprises" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Capital LP</a></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_L.Miles,Jr.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="George L. Miles, Jr. (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">George L. Miles, Jr.</a>&nbsp;– President and Chief Executive Officer, WQED Multimedia</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_S.Miller&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Henry S. Miller (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Henry S. Miller</a>&nbsp;– Chairman, Marblegate Asset Management, LLC</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S.Miller" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert S. Miller" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert S. Miller</a>&nbsp;– Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, American International Group, Inc.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linda_A.Mills&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Linda A. Mills (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Linda A. Mills</a>&nbsp;- Former Vice President of Operations, Northrop Grumman Corporation</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Nora_Johnson" title="Suzanne Nora Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Suzanne Nora Johnson</a>&nbsp;– Former Vice Chairman, The<b> Goldman Sachs </b>Group, Inc.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paulson" title="John Paulson" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">John Paulson</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;- President and Portfolio Manager of&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulson%26_Co." title="Paulson & Co." style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Paulson </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulson%26_Co." title="Paulson & Co." style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">& Co.</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Inc</span></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_A.Rittenmeyer" class="mw-redirect" title="Ronald A. Rittenmeyer" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ronald A. Rittenmeyer</a>&nbsp;– Former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Electronic Data Systems Corporation</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Steenland" title="Douglas Steenland" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Douglas Steenland</a>&nbsp;– Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Northwest Airlines Corporation</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theresa_M.Stone&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Theresa M. Stone (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Theresa M. Stone</a>&nbsp;- Former Executive Vice President and Treasurer,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_G.Jurgensen&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="William G. Jurgensen (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">William G. Jurgensen</a>&nbsp;- Former Chief Executive Officer Nationwide Insurance</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of May 15, 2017<sup id="cite_ref-95" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-95" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[95]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Business">Business</span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
In the United States, AIG is the largest&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwriting" title="Underwriting" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">underwriter</a>&nbsp;of commercial and industrial insurance.<sup id="cite_ref-96" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group#cite_note-96" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[96]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">OTS:</font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AIG</font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: inherit; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The OTS was pressed by the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Banking_Committee" class="mw-redirect" title="Senate Banking Committee" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Senate Banking Committee</a>&nbsp;to admit partial blame for the failure of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Group" title="American International Group" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">American International Group</a>&nbsp;(AIG).</span><sup id="cite_ref-SenatorsAsk_30-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-SenatorsAsk-30" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[30]</a></sup>&nbsp;In a congressional hearing, after&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kohn" title="Donald Kohn" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Donald Kohn</a>&nbsp;described how there was no regulator for&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIG_Financial_Products" title="AIG Financial Products" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">AIG Financial Products</a>&nbsp;or the company overall, Scott Polakoff interrupted.<sup id="cite_ref-P8_31-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-P8-31" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[31]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[32]</a></sup>&nbsp;Polakoff stated that it was time for the OTS to take some responsibility because they had been "deemed an acceptable regulator for both US domestic and international operations".<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[33]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Due to OTS regulation of AIG, the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfair" title="Mayfair" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Mayfair</a>-based (London, UK) AIG Financial Products division was not subject to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Services_Authority" title="Financial Services Authority" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Financial Services Authority</a>&nbsp;regulation.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[34]</a></sup>&nbsp;OTS regulation allowed France's&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commission_Bancaire(France)&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Commission Bancaire (France) (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); outline: none; background: none;">Commission Bancaire</a>&nbsp;to grant approval for a Paris-based banking subsidiary, Banque AIG. The Mayfair-based AIG Financial Products division then opened under a system which allowed branch openings in member countries after one EU regulator's approval.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: inherit; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>That OTS was the primary regulator of AIG has been described as "nonsense"<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[35]</a></sup>&nbsp;and compared to "the super-heavyweight of the world going up against the 65 lb, 13-year-old, class weakling".<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[36]</a></sup>&nbsp;AIG operates in 130 countries.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[37]</a></sup>&nbsp;The OTS had a small division</b>&nbsp;that monitored&nbsp;<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_(finance)" title="Derivative (finance)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">derivatives</a>&nbsp;including the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap" title="Credit default swap" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">credit default swaps</a>&nbsp;at AIG.<sup id="cite_ref-PP_38-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-PP-38" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[38]</a></sup>After a dispute with&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs" title="Goldman Sachs" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Goldman Sachs</a>&nbsp;in 2007 over the value of the credit default swaps,<sup id="cite_ref-email_39-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-email-39" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[39]</a></sup>&nbsp;the OTS did not initiate formal enforcement action</b>, but "periodically raised concerns with AIG managers</span>".<sup id="cite_ref-PP_38-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-PP-38" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[38]</a></sup>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Other sources of concern were the three&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies" class="mw-redirect" title="Credit rating agencies" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">credit rating agencies</a>&nbsp;and AIG's auditor&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PricewaterhouseCoopers" title="PricewaterhouseCoopers" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">PricewaterhouseCoopers</a>.</span><sup id="cite_ref-email_39-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-email-39" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup>&nbsp;In March 2008, after AIG disclosed valuation problems, the OTS sent a letter to AIG requesting a "corrective action plan" in 30 days.<sup id="cite_ref-PP_38-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-PP-38" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[38]</a></sup>&nbsp;The division overseeing AIG Financial Products was "quietly disbanded" and AIG missed their deadline.<sup id="cite_ref-PP_38-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Thrift_Supervision#cite_note-PP-38" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[38]</a></sup></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Updated 7/6/<b>2005 </b>10:40 AM</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>AIG names former SEC chief Levitt as adviser</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Elliot Blair Smith, USA TODAY</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">American International Group named the federal government's former top securities cop, Arthur Levitt, as a special adviser Tuesday, adding to the parade of companies hiring former regulators to lead them out of trouble.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Levitt, 74, a former two-term chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who retired in 2001, joins the insurance giant at a time when it faces civil fraud charges by the New York attorney general's office and probes by the SEC and Justice Department.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">AIG said Levitt would help strengthen the company's governance and advise its board on director nominees. Securities lawyers said his real value to AIG might come as a signal to regulators the company is ready to reform itself.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"What's AIG doing? They're trying to get their reputation back," says former SEC attorney Laurence Lese, a partner at Washington law firm Duane Morris, who terms Levitt's appointment "the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Levitt joins a succession of former SEC chiefs and U.S. attorneys in lending his personal prestige to help turn around a troubled situation in exchange for what is likely to be a lucrative payday. Others:</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">• Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney in New York, negotiated a deferred prosecution agreement in June with federal prosecutors in New Jersey for her client, Bristol-Myers Squibb.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">White, who joined the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton</span> as head of its litigation practice in 2002, also represents clothier Tommy Hilfiger in talks with her former office about its investigation of Hilfiger's commissions and tax payments. And she is leading an internal investigation at insurer ACE related to a kickbacks probe by the Justice Department, SEC and New York attorney general's office.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">• Former SEC chairman Richard Breeden, who acknowledges he once threatened to leave an accused securities cheat "naked and homeless and without wheels," more recently oversaw reforms at scandal-tinged WorldCom (now MCI) and Hollinger International.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">• Former SEC chairman David Ruder, Breeden's predecessor in the late 1980s, joined Strong Financial as a compliance consultant after that company, now part of Wells Fargo, was implicated in the mutual fund scandal in late 2003.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Former SEC attorney Derek Meisner, now a defense lawyer at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart in Boston, says these legal luminaries have what their clients may lack: credibility. "They know how to navigate the waters but not sink the ship," he says.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Yet AIG's decision to hire Levitt also puts its internal-reform efforts in the spotlight.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ruder, now a law professor at Northwestern University, says</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;leftover, but interesting contrast: [social sec the biggest prize for privatization, aside maybe from education?</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:</strong>&nbsp;You write, "Deregulation is one of the greatest triumphs of America’s ruling class, but [for] middle-class workers and their families the fallout has been devastating." What about retirement and&nbsp;<b>pensions?</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>JAMES&nbsp;STEELE:</strong>&nbsp;One of the most astonishing statistics that we think we have in the book, because we were not aware of this statistic: since 1985, almost 85,000 pension plans have been killed. In the '50s, the ’60s, the ’70s, even into the early ’80s, more and more people were eligible for pensions, defined benefit plans where you got a specific benefit when you did retire.<b>&nbsp;But since the mid-'80s, corporations, with the great assistance of Congress, have been shifting people out of pensions into 401(k) plans</b>. Now, there’s nothing wrong with 401(k) plans, but originally they were viewed just as a supplement to a pension. They were not viewed as a pension. But corporations saw this would be a lot cheaper for them. It would shift the responsibility totally to the employees and the workers. But it would also not contribute enough to really take care of their retirement needs.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">So, what’s happened in—this is one of the greatest title shifts in the country, because we were going in a certain direction for decades, middle-class people—I mean, not everybody had a pension. We know that. But more and more did over time. But since the '80s, this has now been totally reversed. And it raises all kinds of questions about what retirement is going to be like for people. The main question is, people are going to have to work forever, and yet what are those jobs going to be? What are they going to pay? And it also puts pressure then on people coming into the workforce. How are they going to get a job if people are having to work between 65 and 75 years old? That's going to put even more pressure on the jobs that are left.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>DONALD&nbsp;BARLETT:</strong>&nbsp;And the other irony of this is—this is almost another <b>Sandy Weill incident.</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">You have the current head of&nbsp;AIG, who was not there during the collapse. He had nothing to do with it. He worked for another global insurance company. He was brought in after&nbsp;AIG&nbsp;collapsed, and the taxpayers bailed them out, and they still haven’t paid everything back yet. He was quoted as saying earlier this year that<b> people are just going to have to get used to the idea of working until they are 70 or 80. Now, he made that pronouncement from his villa in Dubrovnik in Croatia.</b></span></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">got almost 200 billion in tarp?!</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;===</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">scott: &nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Chapter 7 of American War Machine is perhaps the most interesting, as it describes the global drug connection and its ties to a "shadow CIA," which has functioned as a tool for international overworld interests including those referred to as the Safari Club. OPC officer Paul Helliwell figures prominently in this chapter, in part for his role in creating the CIA-related Castle Bank, which laundered money and helped finance off-the-books operations, and for his ties to organized crime. <span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Castle Bank's connections to the overworld are discussed as are its links to agent C.V. Starr, whose insurance empire evolved into the company we know as AIG.</span><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> </span>This chapter also introduces Adnan Khashoggi, who appears throughout the deep history of US foreign policy and played a major role in the activities of Castle Bank's successor, the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Bank of Credit and Commercial International (BCCI).</span></span></b></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===</font>

<a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/wsj_buries_the_lead_deep_on_ai.php?page=all&print=true"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/wsj_buries_the_lead_deep_on_ai.php?page=all&print=true</font></a>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font color="#FF0000"><i>The Wall Street Journal</i> buries the lede</font> in a major way in <a target="_blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324807704579087360260812026.html">its Saturday piece</a> on AIG CEO/bombthrower Robert Benmosche that ran on the cover of Marketplace with this anodyne headline:</font></p>

<blockquote><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At AIG, Benmosche Steers a Steady Course

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CEO Stabilizes Insurer, Focuses on Core Mission</font></p>

</blockquote>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Up high in the story: Benmosche’s assurance that “‘too big to fail’ has been solved”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Left on the cutting-room floor: Benmosche’s comments saying the national outrage about AIG’s bonuses was comparable to the lynching of blacks in the South.</font></p>

<blockquote><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The uproar over bonuses “was intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses, and all that-sort of like what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think it was just as bad and just as wrong.</font></blockquote>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">So nutty AIG paranoia about the <i>potential</i> of hayseeds with pitchforks stringin’ ‘em up is “just as bad and just as wrong” as the actual <a target="_blank" href="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html">murder of thousands </a>of black people by hayseeds with pitchforks.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Matt Taibbi <a target="blank" href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/382314890670911488">says</a> on Twitter, “Just when you thought nothing could ever be dumber than <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Charlie Munger’s “Suck it In and Cope” line</span>…”, referring to Warren Buffett’s billionaire sidekick’s <a target="blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-20/berkshire-s-munger-says-cash-strapped-should-suck-it-in-not-get-bailout.html">comment that </a>Wall Street bailouts were justified, but regular folks slammed by the fallout of Wall Street’s actions should “Suck it in and cope, buddy. Suck it in and cope.” Taibbi’s right: Benmosche’s comment enters the Stupidest Quotes of the Crisis charts at No. 1 (Somewhere in the Top Twenty,<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-03/aig-chief-sees-retirement-age-as-high-as-80-after-crisis.html">Benmosche’s comment</a> to Bloomberg in an interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik that “Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old.”)</span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Where Bloomberg led its 2010 scoop on the Munger comments with that quote, the Benmosche newsmaker—amazingly—doesn’t even make the <i>Journal</i>’s story, which only says he “solidified his reputation as one of the most outspoken executives on Wall Street.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The actual quote is relegated instead to the eighth paragraph of a MoneyBeat<a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/09/23/aigs-benmosche-and-miller-on-villains-turnarounds-and-those-bonuses/"> blog post</a> that ran two days later.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">That’s some bad news judgment, to say the least.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There’s a bigger problem here too: The <i>Journal</i>’s perpetuation of Benmosche’s grandiose notion that he turned around the company and saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. Read Jessica Pressler’s excellent <a target="_blank" href="http://nymag.com/news/features/bob-benmosche-aig-2012-10/#print"><i>New York</i> profile </a>of Benmosche from last year on that:</font></p>

<blockquote><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By the time Benmosche and his team went to work, the market was improving, and the bonds and securities in the first set of vehicles were rising in value, enough that it seemed that the proceeds from those assets, combined with the interest, could feasibly be used to pay off the Federal Reserve’s loan.</font></blockquote>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It was the gubmint, not Robert Benmosche that stabilized AIG. But we don’t get any of that critical context from the WSJ. Instead, it employs that business-press staple: the CEO as Great Man of History.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But this CEO, at least, is a buffoon.&nbsp; ex wsj reporter
&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==
</font></p>

<div class="headline">

<h1 class="node-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Krugman: Rich Are Waging “Pure Class Warfare”</font></h1>

</div>

<div class="the_body body_story clearfix">

<div class="story-date"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><em><span class="field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" content="2013-09-26T08:08:00-07:00">September 26, 2013</span></span></span></span> </em>&nbsp;| &nbsp;</font></div>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In a post at his blog, New York Times columnist and award-winning economist&nbsp;Paul Krugman argues that&nbsp;while it may appear the rich want to destroy all forms of government, that isn’t the case. What they really want to do, Krugman writes, is destroy all forms of government&nbsp;that don’t benefit themselves.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/rage-of-the-privileged/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0">More from Krugman:</a> <span class="print-footnote">[3]</span></font></p>

<blockquote>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">[M]any of the rich are selective in their opposition to government helping the unlucky. They’re against stuff like food stamps and unemployment benefits; but bailing out Wall Street? Yay!</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Seriously. <b>Charlie Munger&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-20/berkshire-s-munger-says-cash-strapped-should-suck-it-in-not-get-bailout.html">says</a> <span class="print-footnote">[4]</span>&nbsp;that we should “thank God” for the bailouts, but that ordinary people fallen on hard times should “suck it in and cope</b>.” AIG’s CEO — the CEO of a bailed out firm! — says that complaints about bonuses to executives at such firms are&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/wsj_buries_the_lead_deep_on_ai.php">just as bad as lynchings</a> <span class="print-footnote">[5]</span>&nbsp;(I am not making this up.)</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The point is that the superrich have not gone Galt on us — not really, even if they imagine they have. It’s much closer to pure class warfare, a defense of the right of the privileged to keep and extend their privileges. It’s not Ayn Rand, it’s Ancien Régime.</font></p>

</blockquote>

</div>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==

&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">USCoC does tort reform to protect AIG from liability? from?</span>

&nbsp;</font>

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11chamber.html?r=0&pagewanted=print"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11chamber.html?r=0&pagewanted=print</font></a>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SW</font></p>

<div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" lang="en">

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><font color="#ff0000">American International Group,</font> Inc.</b> (AIG) described itself as the "leading international insurance organization with <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">operations in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions</span>. AIG companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">insurance</span> networks of any insurer. In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of retirement services, financial services and asset management around the world. AIG's common stock is listed in the U.S. on the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_York_Stock_Exchange" title="New York Stock Exchange">New York Stock Exchange</a> as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Switzerland" title="Switzerland">Switzerland</a> and Tokyo," its website states. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.aig.com/gateway/aboutaig/1-70-0-0-5-index.htm">[1]</a></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 2011, AIG reporterd <b>$38,990,000,000 in total revenue</b>s.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Ties_to_Pete_Peterson.27s_.22Fix_the_Debt.22"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"</font></span></h2>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Campaign to Fix the Debt</a> is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Peterson" title="Pete Peterson" class="mw-redirect">Pete Peterson</a> to slash earned benefit programs such as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Social_Security" title="Social Security" class="mw-redirect">Social Security</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicare" title="Medicare">Medicare</a> under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." <b>Please visit our main SourceWatch page on <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Fix the Debt</a>.</b></font></p>

<table style=" vertical-align: top; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #D8D8CD;"><tbody><tr><th style="font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 48, 21); text-align: left; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; background: rgb(222, 21, 13);" /></tr><tr><td style=" color: #000000;"><div style="padding: 2px 5px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Campaign to Fix the Debt</a> is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem." Through a special report and new interactive wiki resource, the Center for Media and Democracy -- in partnership with the <i>Nation</i> magazine -- exposes the funding, the leaders, the partner groups, and the phony state "chapters" of this astroturf supergroup. Learn more at <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">PetersonPyramid.org</a> and in the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thenation.com/issue/march-11-18-2013"><i>Nation</i> magazine</a>.</font></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

&nbsp;</font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Financial_crisis_and_the_bailout"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Financial crisis and the bailout</font></span></h2>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">In the September 2008 financial crisis AIG suffered a<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> liquidity crisis</span></span></b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-1"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">[2]</span></b></a></sup><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">. On September 16, 2008, the </span></b><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federal_Reserve" title="Federal Reserve" class="mw-redirect"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Federal Reserve</span></b></a><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;"> exchanged a warrant for the purchase of 79.9% of AIG stock for an $85 billion line of credit</span></b><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-2"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">[3]</span></b></a></sup><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">. In May 2009, the government increased available support by as much as $70 billion, plus a $60 billion credit line and $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-based assets owned or guaranteed by AIG, increasing the total amount available to as much as $182.5 billion</span></b><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-3"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">[4]</span></b></a></sup><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">.</span></b></span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Later it came to light that $90 billion of the money provided to AIG by the government went directly to banks, including non-American banks, including </span></b><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldman_Sachs" title="Goldman Sachs"><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Goldman Sachs</span></b></a><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;"> ($12.9 billion), </span></b>France's Societe Generale ($11.9 billion), Germany's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Deutsche_Bank" title="Deutsche Bank">Deutsche Bank</a> ($11.8 billion), and Britain's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barclays" title="Barclays" class="mw-redirect">Barclays</a> PLC ($8.5 billion)<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-4">[5]</a></sup>. The bailout of AIG was largely a bailout of the banks and others that had made credit default swap bets with AIG, <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldman_Sachs" title="Goldman Sachs">Goldman Sachs</a>.</span></font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Contribution_to_the_crisis"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Contribution to the crisis</font></span></h3>

<table style=" vertical-align: top; margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #fffacd; border: 1px solid #dad26d;"><tbody><tr><td style=" padding: 0 0 0 2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">needs help real ec pjt</font></td><td style=" width: 100%; padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em;" /></tr></tbody></table><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

<b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
AIG had taken on 440 billions of dollars in credit default swaps (CDS) with little or no reserves with which to make good on their liabilities</span>.</b> Along with having insufficient reserves the<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> company had not protected itself by being on "both sides" of the CDS transaction, as other companies did, it <b>only sold</b> them.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-5">[6]</a></sup> When the real estate prices began to fall, leading to the "mortgage meltdown," AIG was unprotected and owed the entire amount. The amounts owed to other banks inside and outside of the United States was sufficient to bring the entire world financial system into default. Bond CDS obligations totalled $440 billion<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-6">[7]</a></sup>, $80 billion in mortgage-backed securities<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-7">[8]</a></sup>.</span></font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Bailout_amounts"><font color="#ff0000" face="Times New Roman" size="4">Bailout amounts</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Initial $85 billion September 16, 2008.</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 2009: $70 billion plus $60 billion line of credit plus $52.5 billion to purchase mortgage-backed assets</font></li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Bailout_pass-throughs"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Bailout pass-throughs</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In the months leading up to its public collapse in September 2008, AIG tasked Elias Habayed, chief financial officer for the AIG division that oversaw AIG Financial Products (the unit that had sold the swaps to the banks), to attempt to negotiate with the banks to accept 60 cents on the dollar, but that plan was scuttled when the <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Federal Reserve Bank of New York opened an $85 billion credit line for AIG and bought 77.9 percent of the company.</span><sup id="cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-TeitelbaumSon-8">[9]</a></sup> The government's financial stake in and control of AIG increased from that point: "The government’s commitment to AIG through credit facilities and investments would eventually add up to $182.3 billion."<sup id="cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-1" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-TeitelbaumSon-8">[9]</a></sup> <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Timothy_Geithner" title="Timothy Geithner" class="mw-redirect">Timothy Geithner</a>, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, took over Habayed's negotiations, and the effort to negotiate down AIG's obligations to its counterparties was supplanted with a plan to pay 100 percent of those obligations:</span> "Geithner's team circulated a draft term sheet outlining how the New York Fed wanted to deal with the swaps.... Part of a sentence in the document was crossed out. It contained a blank space that was intended to show the amount of the haircut the banks would take, according to people who saw the term sheet. After less than a week of private negotiations with the banks, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par, or 100 cents on the dollar."<sup id="cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-2" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-TeitelbaumSon-8">[9]</a></sup></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">When <i>Bloomberg</i> reported in October 2009 the change in approach directed by Geithner, "[l]awmakers and financial analysts critical of the payouts say it amounted to a <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">back-door bailout for big banks,"</span> while unnamed Fed officials defended the practice in the pages of the <i>Washington Post</i> by arguing that AIG lost its ability to demand concessions because the government takeover removed the threat of impending bankruptcy.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-9">[10]</a></sup></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On November 17, 2009, the Office of the Special <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Inspector General </span>for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SIGTARP" title="SIGTARP" class="mw-redirect">SIGTARP</a>) released a report<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-10">[11]</a></sup> saying that Timothy Geithner -- then the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now the nation's <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Treasury Secretary -- was responsible for billions of tax dollars in overpayments to major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs.</span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">From the report,</font></p>

<blockquote>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">[T]he refusal of FRBNY and the Federal Reserve to use their considerable leverage as the primary regulators for several of the counterparties, including the emphasis that their participation in the negotiations was purely "voluntary," made the possibility of obtaining concessions from those counterparties extremely remote.</font></p>

</blockquote>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Political_influence"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Political influence</font></span></h2>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Campaign_Contributions"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Campaign Contributions</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Maurice_R.Greenberg" title="Maurice R. Greenberg">Maurice R. Greenberg</a>, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American International Group, was a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bush%27s_Rangers" title="Bush's Rangers">Bush Ranger</a> having raised at least $200,000 for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_Walker_Bush" title="George Walker Bush">Bush</a> in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.presidential_election,_2004" title="U.S. presidential election, 2004">2004 presidential election</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-11">[12]</a></sup></font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">American International Group gave $214,150 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Political_action_committee" title="Political action committee">political action committee</a> - <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">47% to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Democrats" title="Democrats" class="mw-redirect">Democrats</a>, 49% to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Party_%28USA%29" title="Republican Party (USA)">Republicans</a>,</span> and 4% to other parties.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-12">[13]</a></sup></font></li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Lobbying"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Lobbying</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The company spent $9,390,000 for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lobbying" title="Lobbying">lobbying</a> in 2006.<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In-house lobbyists along with 16 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lobbying_firms" title="Lobbying firms">lobbying firms</a> were used, which included <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Akin,Gump,Strauss,Hauer%26_Feld" title="Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld">Akin, Gump et al</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lesher%26_Russell" title="Lesher & Russell">Lesher & Russell</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mayer,Brown,Rowe%26_Maw" title="Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw">Mayer, Brown et al</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Vinson_%26_Elkins" title="Vinson & Elkins">Vinson & Elkins</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-13">[14]</a></sup></span></font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Revolving_door_influence"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Revolving door influence</font></span></h3>

<table style=" vertical-align: top; margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #fffacd; border: 1px solid #dad26d;"><tbody><tr><td style=" padding: 0 0 0 2px;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/File:Wall_st_main_st_50px.png" class="image"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img src="/19673459-57ef-5eed-8ca4-710bd4f25c62.png"/></font></a></td><td style=" width: 100%; padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Real_Economy_Project" title="Real Economy Project" class="mw-redirect">Real Economy Project</a> needs your help filling this section out. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Real_Economy_Project/What_you_can_do" title="Portal:Real Economy Project/What you can do">Here's how</a>.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

&nbsp;</font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Ties_to_financial_regulators"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ties to financial regulators</font></span></h3>

<table style=" vertical-align: top; margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #fffacd; border: 1px solid #dad26d;"><tbody><tr><td style=" padding: 0 0 0 2px;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/File:Wall_st_main_st_50px.png" class="image"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img src="/38d4c7c1-af47-5b5a-97e0-4d35bb90dedf.png"/></font></a></td><td style=" width: 100%; padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Real_Economy_Project" title="Real Economy Project" class="mw-redirect">Real Economy Project</a> needs your help filling this section out. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Real_Economy_Project/What_you_can_do" title="Portal:Real Economy Project/What you can do">Here's how</a>.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

&nbsp;</font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Profits.2C_bonuses_and_market_value"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Profits, bonuses and market value</font></span></h2>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Executive_compensation"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Executive compensation</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/TARP" title="TARP" class="mw-redirect">TARP</a> recipient, AIG's executive compensation came under the purview of Treasury special master for compensation <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kenneth_R._Feinberg" title="Kenneth R. Feinberg">Kenneth R. Feinberg</a>. According to <i>The New York Times'</i>, "A.I.G. refused to cancel some pay contracts that fell outside Mr. Feinberg’s purview. At one point, A.I.G. executives expressed frustration with the contracts. A.I.G., they said, was having trouble identifying just who its most highly paid employees were. "<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-14">[15]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Earnings_and_bonuses"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Earnings and bonuses</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font color="#ff0000">In March, 2009, AIG paid "retention bonuses" of $165 million, causing a public uproar.</font> Executives promised to return approx. $45 billion of these, but by December, 2009, only $19 billion had been returned.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-15">[16]</a></sup></font></p>

<table style=" vertical-align: top; margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #fffacd; border: 1px solid #dad26d;"><tbody><tr><td style=" padding: 0 0 0 2px;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/File:Wall_st_main_st_50px.png" class="image"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img src="/fbdfeaea-bd7d-5f93-9b90-787cab06db45.png"/></font></a></td><td style=" width: 100%; padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Real_Economy_Project" title="Real Economy Project" class="mw-redirect">Real Economy Project</a> needs your help filling this section out. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Real_Economy_Project/What_you_can_do" title="Portal:Real Economy Project/What you can do">Here's how</a>.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

&nbsp;</font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Board_of_Directors"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Board of Directors</font></span></h2>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_H._Benmosche" title="Robert H. Benmosche">Robert H. Benmosche</a>: President and CEO <sup id="cite_ref-board_16-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_note-board-16">[17]</a></sup></font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Henry_S._Miller&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Henry S. Miller (page does not exist)">Henry S. Miller</a>: Chairman, Marblegate Asset Management, LLC</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/W._Don_Cornwell" title="W. Don Cornwell">W. Don Cornwell</a>: Former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Granite Broadcasting Corporation</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_S._Miller" title="Robert S. Miller">Robert S. Miller</a>: Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, American International Group</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_H._Fitzpatrick&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="John H. Fitzpatrick (page does not exist)">John H. Fitzpatrick</a>: Secretary General and Managing Director, The Geneva Assocation</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Suzanna_Nora_Johnson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Suzanna Nora Johnson (page does not exist)">Suzanna Nora Johnson</a>: Former Vice Chairman, The<b> Goldman Sachs Group</b></font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Christopher_S._Lynch&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Christopher S. Lynch (page does not exist)">Christopher S. Lynch</a>: Former National Partner in Charge of Financial Services, <b>KPMG</b> LLP</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Morris_W._Offit&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Morris W. Offit (page does not exist)">Morris W. Offit</a>: Chairman, Offit Capital</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arthur_C._Martinez" title="Arthur C. Martinez">Arthur C. Martinez</a>: Former Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sears, Roebeck and Co.</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ronald_A._Rittenmeyer&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ronald A. Rittenmeyer (page does not exist)">Ronald A. Rittenmeyer</a>: Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Expert Global Solutions</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_L.Miles,Jr&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="George L. Miles, Jr (page does not exist)">George L. Miles, Jr</a>: Chairman Emeritus, Chester Engineers</font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Douglas_M._Steenland" title="Douglas M. Steenland">Douglas M. Steenland</a>: Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Northwest Airlines Corporation</font></li>

</ul>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Contact_details"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Contact details</font></span></h2>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">70 Pine Street

New York, NY 10270

Phone: 212-770-7000

Fax: 212-509-9705

Web: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.aigcorporate.com">http://www.aigcorporate.com</a></font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_Articles"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Resources and Articles</font></span></h2>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Featured_SourceWatch_Articles_on_Fix_the_Debt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Fix the Debt Portal Page</a>

</font><ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Leadership" title="Fix the Debt's Leadership"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's Leadership</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Partner_Groups" title="Fix the Debt's Partner Groups"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's Partner Groups</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_State_Chapters" title="Fix the Debt's State Chapters"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's State Chapters</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Lobbyists" title="Fix the Debt's Lobbyists"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's Lobbyists</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Committee_for_a_Responsible_Federal_Budget" title="Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's Parent Group</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Fix_the_Debt_Corporations" title="Category:Fix the Debt Corporations"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt's Corporations</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Peterson" title="Pete Peterson" class="mw-redirect"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Pete Peterson</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_G._Peterson_Foundation" title="Peter G. Peterson Foundation"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Peter G. Peterson Foundation</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/America_Speaks" title="America Speaks"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">America Speaks</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Simpson-Bowles_Commission" title="Simpson-Bowles Commission"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Simpson-Bowles Commission</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Erskine_Bowles" title="Erskine Bowles" class="mw-redirect"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Erskine Bowles</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alan_Simpson" title="Alan Simpson" class="mw-redirect"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Alan Simpson</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Social_Security" title="Social Security" class="mw-redirect"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Social Security</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicare" title="Medicare"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Medicare</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicaid" title="Medicaid"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Medicaid</font></a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_SourceWatch_articles"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Related SourceWatch articles</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AIG_loans_and_investments" title="AIG loans and investments"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">AIG loans and investments</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AIG_Securities_Lending_Facility" title="AIG Securities Lending Facility" class="mw-redirect"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">AIG Securities Lending Facility</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Insurance_industry" title="Insurance industry"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Insurance industry</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Maiden_Lane_II_and_III_%28AIG%29" title="Maiden Lane II and III (AIG)"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Maiden Lane II and III (AIG)</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Starr_Foundation" title="Starr Foundation"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Starr Foundation</font></a></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ellen_V._Futter" title="Ellen V. Futter">Ellen V. Futter</a> - former board member</font></li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="External_articles"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">External articles</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Lucy Komisar, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11657">Cooking the Insurance Books</a>", <i>CorpWatch</i>, November 17, 2004.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Press Release, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.calpers.ca.gov/index.jsp?bc=/about/press/pr-2005/april/focus-list.xml">American International Group Tops CalPERS Focus List Of Corporate Laggards</a>", <i>CalPERS</i>, April 20, 2005.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2006-12-11-dubai-ports_x.htm">"AIG unit to buy Dubai company's U.S. ports,"</a> Reuters (<i>USA TODAY</i>), December 12, 2006. re <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DP_World" title="DP World">DP World</a></font></li>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ben Protess, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.propublica.org/article/aig-lobbied-for-india-nuke-deal-really-1024/">AIG Lobbied for India Nuke Deal (Really!)</a>," ProPublica, October 24, 2008.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Institutional Risk Analytics, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=351">AIG: Before Credit Default Swaps, There Was Reinsurance</a>," <i>The Institutional Risk Analyst</i>, April 2, 2009.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mary Bottari, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8667">For Better or Worse - Geithner, Goldman, and AIG</a>, Mary Bottari's Blog, Center for Media and Democracy, November 2, 2009.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Shahien Nasiripour, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/16/aig-bailout-government-ov_n_359919.html">Geithner Singled Out In TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky's Scathing Report On AIG Bailout</a>, Huffington Post, November 16, 2009.</font></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">RJ Eskow, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/19/858925/-Theres-a-New-AIG-Story.-I-Was-an-AIG-Exec.-Heres-the-Deal.">There's a New AIG Story. I Was an AIG Exec. Here's the Deal.</a>, Campaign for America's Future, April 19, 2010.</font></li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="References"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">References</font></span></h3>

<div class="references-small" style=" -moz-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;">

<ol class="references">

<li id="cite_note-0"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.aig.com/Chartis/internet/US/en/2011annualreport_tcm3171-440893.pdf/">"2011 Annual Report"</a>, <i>AIG</i>, February 29, 2012.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-1">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Lilla Zuill, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2008/09/14/93672.htm">"AIG Facing Liquidity Crisis, Seeks $40 Billion Loan from Federal Reserve"</a>, Reuters through Insurance Journal, September 14, 2008, retrieved Oct 1, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-2">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Matthew Marnitschnig, Deborah Soloman, Liam Pleven and Jon E. Hilsenrath, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122156561931242905.html">"U.S. to Take Over AIG in $85 Billion Bailout; Central Banks Inject Cash as Credit Dries Up"</a>, <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, September 16, 2008.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-3">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Alistair Barr, Sam Mamudi & Rex Nutting, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-government-dramatically-alters-terms-of-aigs-bailout">"Washington dramatically alters AIG bailout"</a>, <i>Marketwatch</i>, November 10, 2008.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-4">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/16/business/main4867408.shtml">"$90B Of AIG's Federal Rescue Went To Banks"</a>, <i>CBS News</i>, March 16, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-5">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4647166/Sold-Out---How-Wall-Street-and-Washington-Betrayed-America">"Sold Out - How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America"</a>, Consumer Education Foundation, March, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-6">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Adam Davidson, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSMAR85972720080918">"How AIG fell apart"</a>, <i>Reuters</i>, September 18, 2008.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-7">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Carol J. Loomis, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/07/news/companies/aig.fortune/index.htm">"Revealed: 15 AIG bailout counterparties"</a>, <i>CNN</i>, March 9, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-TeitelbaumSon-8"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">↑ ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-0">9.0</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-1">9.1</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-TeitelbaumSon_8-2">9.2</a>} <span class="reference-text">Richard Teitelbaum & Hugh Son, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a7T5HaOgYHpE#">"New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers"</a>, <i>Bloomberg</i>, October 27, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-9">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">David Cho, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703963.html">N.Y. Fed pushed AIG on contracts</a>," <i>Washington Post</i>, October 28, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-10">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sigtarp.gov/reports/audit/2009/Factors_Affecting_Efforts_to_Limit_Payments_to_AIG_Counterparties.pdf">Factors Affecting Efforts to Limit Payments To AIG Counterparties</a>, SIGTARP, Nov. 17, 2009</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-11">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers/pioneers_table.jsp">Pioneers and Rangers</a>, <i>Texans for Public Justice</i>, accessed August 2007.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-12">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.asp?strID=C00097725">2006 PAC Summary Data</a>, <i>Open Secrets</i>, accessed August 2007.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-13">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?txtname=American+International+Group&year=2006">AIG lobbying expenses</a>, <i>Open Secrets</i>.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-14">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Louise Story, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/business/22czar.html?_r=1">Who Gets Paid What</a>," <i>The New York Times</i>, October 21, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-15">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Brady Dennis, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203788.html">AIG executives' promises to return bonuses have gone largely unfulfilled</a>, Washington Post, December 23, 2009.</span></font></li>

<li id="cite_note-board-16"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group#cite_ref-board_16-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.aig.com/board-of-directors_3171_437859.html/">"Board of Directors"</a>, <i>AIG</i>, Accessed February 11, 2013.</span></font></li>

</ol>

</div>

</div>

<div id="catlinks" class="catlinks">

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>:

</font><ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Real_Economy_Project" title="Category:Real Economy Project"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Real Economy Project</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Corporations" title="Category:Corporations"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Corporations</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Insurance_industry" title="Category:Insurance industry"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Insurance industry</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:National_security" title="Category:National security"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">National security</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:United_States" title="Category:United States"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">United States</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:TARP_Recipients" title="Category:TARP Recipients"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TARP Recipients</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Fix_the_Debt" title="Category:Fix the Debt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Fix_the_Debt_Corporations" title="Category:Fix the Debt Corporations"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fix the Debt Corporations</font></a></li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;</font>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group</font></a>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://bursonmarstellerwatch.com/

&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">----

&nbsp;</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Such outright activism is not for every think tank. Some, such as the Heritage Foundation, will not accept money for specific projects for fear of appearing beholden to the interest that funded it. Others, such as the Cato Institute, take earmarked money but go beyond the legal requirements and identify major donors.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">For example, <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the largest supporter of Cato's study of <b>Social Security privatization</b> is the U.S. insurance company AIG</span>, which manages privatized retirement systems abroad and stands to benefit if--as Cato is recommending--such an option is put in place here.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;</font></p>

<h1><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Think Tanks: Corporations' Quiet Weapon</font></h1>

<div id="byline"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Dan Morgan</font></div>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 29, 2000; Page A1</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==</font></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2010 Complaint</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a id="2010_Complaint" name="2010_Complaint">In September, 2010, two national watchdog groups, </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_Watch" title="U.S. Chamber Watch">U.S. Chamber Watch</a> and <a href="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/" title="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/">StopTheChamber.com</a>, filed complaints with the U.S. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Internal_Revenue_Service" title="Internal Revenue Service">Internal Revenue Service</a> asking the agency to investigate the <strong>U.S. Chamber of Commerce</strong> for criminal fraud and money laundering</span>. The groups allege that the Chamber illegally funneled donations from a wealthy charitable foundation into its political battles. Chamber Watch said that $12 million of an $18 million donation that the wealthy<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><b style=" mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Starr_Foundation" title="Starr Foundation" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Starr Foundation</a> </b><a href="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/images/irs_complaint_9_10_10.pdf" title="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/images/irs_complaint_9_10_10.pdf">gave</a> (pdf) gave to the National Chamber Foundation was in the form of loans that have never been repaid<font color="#ff0000">.</font></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font color="#ff0000">&nbsp;Chamber Watch says the money was diverted to finance political causes, including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tort_reform" title="Tort reform">tort reform</a>, to shield companies like <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AIG" title="AIG">AIG</a> from liability lawsuits. </font><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Starr_Foundation" title="Starr Foundation">Starr Foundation</a> was founded by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cornelius_Vander_Starr" title="Cornelius Vander Starr">Cornelius Vander Starr</a>, the insurance entrepreneur who also founded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AIG" title="AIG">AIG</a>. </span>The Foundation's Chairman of the Board of Directors is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Maurice_R.Greenberg" title="Maurice R. Greenberg">Maurice R. Greenberg</a>, former President and <b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">CEO of AIG.</span></b> The Foundation's Director (and Treasurer) is Howard I. Smith, AIG's former Chief Financial Officer. StopTheChamber.com says it was contacted by a Chamber whistleblower <a href="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/images/COC_DOJ_Letter8410.pdf" title="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/images/COC_DOJ_Letter8410.pdf">who described</a> (pdf) how Chamber CEO <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Donohue" title="Tom Donohue">Tom Donohue</a> is "scamming [business] clients to serve his own interests rather than the interests of the business community." The insider compared Donohue to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Abramoff" title="Jack Abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bernie_Madoff" title="Bernie Madoff">Bernie Madoff</a>. He also alleged that Donohue does not fear the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federal_Elections_Commission" title="Federal Elections Commission">Federal Elections Commission</a> or Congress, and has a plan set up to attack the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Department_of_Justice" title="U.S. Department of Justice">U.S. Department of Justice</a> if the agency ever tries to investigate him.^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a>}</font>

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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11chamber.html?r=0&pagewanted=print"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11chamber.html?r=0&pagewanted=print</font></a></p>

<div class="timestamp" style="margin-top: 15px; white-space: nowrap; color: rgb(168, 24, 23);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">September 10, 2010</font></div>

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<h1 style="text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.083em;"><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Chamber of Commerce Accused of Tax Fraud</font></nyt_headline></h1>

<h6 class="byline" style="text-transform: uppercase; margin: 2px 0px; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); line-height: 1.2em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By&nbsp;<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/eric_lichtblau/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Eric Lichtblau" class="meta-per" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">ERIC LICHTBLAU</a></font></h6>

<p style="text-transform: uppercase;"><nyt_byline style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" /></font></span></nyt_byline></p>

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</font><p style="text-transform: uppercase; color: black; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">WASHINGTON — With a war chest rivaling that of the&nbsp;<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Republican Party" class="meta-org" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Republican Party</a>&nbsp;itself, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.uschamber.com/" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a>&nbsp;has emerged in the last year as perhaps the Obama administration’s most-well-financed rival on signature policy debates like health care and financial regulation.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Critics on the left have long complained about the chamber’s outsize influence. But now they are taking on the business association directly, charging in a complaint filed Friday with the&nbsp;<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/internal_revenue_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Internal Revenue Service." class="meta-org" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Internal Revenue Service</a>&nbsp;that it violated tax codes by laundering millions of dollars meant for charitable work from a group with ties to the insurance giant A.I.G.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The complaint was brought by a group called&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/about-chamber-watch-0" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">U.S. Chamber Watch</a>, which was created four months ago — with the strong financial backing of labor unions — to scrutinize the Chamber of Commerce’s growing influence and provide a counterbalance.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But chamber officials said they had complied with all tax laws and dismissed the complaint as a political ploy.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A chamber spokeswoman, Tita Freeman, said its opponents “are desperately looking for opportunities to undermine the chamber’s efforts to promote free markets and economic growth.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The I.R.S. refused to comment on the complaint, citing the confidentiality of taxpayer records.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I.R.S. regulators have often been wary of wading into political grievances, particularly after evidence emerged during the Watergate scandal that the Nixon White House had sought to use the agency for political purposes.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But in recent years the agency has occasionally gotten involved in politically tinged controversies. In one high-profile case in 2004, Republican complaints led it to open an investigation into the N.A.A.C.P.’s tax-exempt status after the group’s leader criticized President George W. Bush in a speech. The I.R.S. concluded two years later that the remarks did not violate the group’s nonprofit restrictions on political activity.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At issue in the complaint against the Chamber of Commerce is whether the group mixed funds for charitable and noncharitable political purposes in violation of tax codes.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The chamber, often using expensive mass-market radio and TV spots, has weighed in on many major public policy debates in recent months, including the Obama administration’s health care policy, business regulations, campaign finance laws and Internet rules, as well as job creation and the threat of tax hikes. On many issues, it has pushed for less government regulation in favor of free-market incentives.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Now the chamber’s political arm is turning to the November elections, and it expects to spend $50 million or more to push pro-business candidates, usually Republicans. As part of a wave of new commercials broadcast this week, the chamber’s California affiliate attacked Senator Barbara Boxer — a Democrat running for re-election against Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard — and accused Ms. Boxer of “destroying jobs” by voting against business.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cyrus Mehri, a Washington lawyer who brought the I.R.S. complaint on behalf of U.S. Chamber Watch, said in an interview that the chamber’s current political activities were, in effect, being underwritten with money intended for charitable work.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The complaint focuses on loans and grants totaling about $18 million that were made beginning in 2003 to a nonprofit affiliate, the&nbsp;<a href="http://ncf.uschamber.com/" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">National Chamber Foundation</a>, by the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.starrfoundation.org/" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Starr Foundation</a>, a charity started by the founder of A.I.G. and now led by Maurice R. Greenberg, the insurer’s former chairman.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Lawyers for Chamber Watch said their research, based largely on public tax filings, found that none of the principal on some $12 million in loans had been paid back and that the money appeared to have been given to the chamber’s foundation for unrestricted use.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The lawyers said that the money, in violation of nonprofit restrictions, was ultimately funneled to the chamber itself and used to finance broader political causes, including support for legal tort reform to shield companies like A.I.G. from liability. Mr. Greenberg himself had worked to promote restrictions on lawsuits, the complaint notes.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“You have millions of dollars improperly going to the chamber,” said Mr. Mehri, who drafted the complaint with Gail M. Harmon, a Washington lawyer specializing in tax law. “This is not a technical violation.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But Stan Harrell, chief financial officer for the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview Friday that the chamber’s lawyers and its accountants at Ernst & Young had reviewed the Starr Foundation funding and found that it complied with all relevant tax law.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“We’ve never had an issue, period,” Mr. Harrell said. He said that Chamber Watch, which was created by a federation of five unions called&nbsp;<a href="http://www.changetowin.org/" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Change to Win</a>, was simply trying to create trouble for the chamber because of its opposing political views.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“That’s democracy. From time to time, people make allegations,” he said. “If their real interest was proper accounting, they’d be talking to us. This is political.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mr. Harrell said that the funding from the Starr Foundation was listed in tax documents as a loan only in the most technical sense and that it was never intended to be paid back. Instead, he said, the money was restricted for long-term use on educational and research projects as part of the chamber’s capital plan and was invested by the chamber to ensure the Starr Foundation a set rate of return.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“We wanted to make sure we guaranteed the investment return,” he said. “Legally, that has to be represented as a loan. This was all done very scrupulously. If anything, we overdisclosed the transaction” in the group’s federal tax returns, he said.</font></p><p style="text-transform: uppercase; color: black; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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