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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (9367)	3/16/2009 5:38:23 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 103300

Cuomo Demands Details on Bonuses From AIG, Says He Will Investigate New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says his office will investigate whether the AIG employees receiving bonuses were involved in the insurance giant's near-collapse and whether the payments are fraudulent under state law. AP Monday, March 16, 2009 foxnews.com ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has told American International Group he wants details about employees set to receive millions of dollars in bonuses on his desk by Monday afternoon or he will subpoena the company. Cuomo said his office will investigate whether the employees were involved in the insurance giant's near-collapse and whether the payments are fraudulent under state law. He set a 4 p.m. deadline for the company to provide the names, job titles and contracts. AIG did not immediately reply to requests for comment. In a letter Monday to AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, Cuomo said he has been investigating AIG compensation arrangements since last fall and he was "disturbed" to learn over the weekend of its plans to pay millions in bonuses to members of its Financial Products subsidiary. The attorney general repeated an earlier request for the list of those set to receive payments and said he now wants the details of their work and the compensation contracts. "Covering up the details of these payments breeds further cynicism and distrust in our already shaken financial system," Cuomo wrote. He also demanded details about who developed the bonus plans, as well as a status report on whether payments have been made. "We need this information immediately in order to investigate and determine ... whether such contracts may be unenforceable for fraud or other reasons and whether any of the retention payments may be considered fraudulent conveyances under New York law," Cuomo said of the compensation packages. Earlier Monday, President Barack Obama said it was hard to understand how AIG traders warranted $165 million in bonuses, an outrage to taxpayers, and he had urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to pursue every legal avenue to block them. The $165 million was payable to executives by Sunday and was part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue. AIG reported this month that it lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history. The bulk of the bonuses at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.