March 24 2009
Susan Kniep, President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
The state legislature and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued subpoenas Friday to 11 AIG employees or former employees with Connecticut
residences, all in Fairfield County, ordering them to appear at a
legislative hearing on Thursday.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-aig-blumenthal.artmar21210213,0,3417224.story
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BANKING COMMITTEE INVESTIGATIVE HEARING
THURDAY, MARCH
26, 2009, 1:00 PM
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING
– RM 2B – HARTFORD, CT
Banks Committee, Phone: 860-240-0410
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Legislature, Blumenthal Issue Hearing Subpoenas To AIG
Employees
By ERIC GERSHON and LYNN DOAN | The Hartford Courant ,
March 21, 2009
The state legislature and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued subpoenas Friday to 11 AIG employees or former employees with
Connecticut residences, all in Fairfield County, ordering them to appear at a
legislative hearing on Thursday. A subpoena was also issued to AIG Chief
Executive Edward M. Liddy.
The lawmakers said testimony from employees of AIG's
Wilton-based Financial Products unit would help them craft legislation
pertaining to regulation of the securities industry, hedge funds and the
mortgage industry, according to a statement from state Sen. Bob Duff,
D-Norwalk, and Rep. Ryan Barry, D-Manchester, co-chairmen of the General
Assembly's banks committee.
Among those the committee said it has subpoenaed were James Haas and Douglas
Poling, both of Fairfield, and Jonathan Liebergall of New Canaan, all current AIG executives whose
names have been in media reports this week. It was not clear whether all of the
others subpoenaed still work for AIG. The Courant is not publishing a complete
list out of concern for the safety of those whose names have not alreay been widely disseminated.
The names of people subpoenaed were available to state officials based on
public records and press accounts, although state
officials did not say which records they searched. Several of those included in
the subpoena had been political contributors to Sen. Christopher Dodd. Continued …
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-aig-blumenthal.artmar21210213,0,3417224.story
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AIG Employees
Will Return About $50 Million of Bonuses
By LIZ RAPPAPORT and LIAM PLEVEN
Wall Street Journal, March 24, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said late Monday that
15 of the top 20 recipients of $165 million in retention bonuses from American International Group Inc.'s Financial
Products unit have agreed to give back their bonuses -- amounting to in excess
of $30 million in cash. Mr. Cuomo's office said, in all, AIG FP employees
agreed to return about $50 million in bonuses thus far. "I applaud all the AIG employees that
are returning the bonuses," said Mr. Cuomo, though he acknowledged that,
for some, returning the bonus was more a response to public outrage than
atoning for a sin. He said many employees "had nothing to do with the
meltdown in the financial products division," but were trying to "do
the right thing." Mr. Cuomo added
that doesn't intend to reveal names of people who return bonuses, but
maintained he hadn't decided whether to disclose those who keep them. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123784730479718425.html
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AIG Bonuses Were Actually $218 million, not $165 million
By Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, March
21,2009
The highly controversial bonuses at the AIG insurance company
were actually more than $50 million higher than originally announced, Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal said Saturday morning. The AIG bonuses were $218 million, not $165
million, he said. That number was determined after Blumenthal's office received
documents from the embattled insurance giant on Friday. But AIG says that Blumenthal is confused and
that the bonus amounts had already been disclosed.
Joseph Norton, an AIG spokesman, said that AGI's chief executive, Edward M. Liddy,
had explained the bonuses previously to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "Mr. Liddy said in his correspondence to Mr. Geithner
that a payment under the retention program was made in December before this
latest March payment,'' Norton said Saturday. "At this point, not having
seen what Mr. Blumenthal said, we believe that's what he is referring to. The
March payments were $165 million, not $218 million."
But Blumenthal responded that he never said that the March
payments were $218 million. "We've
not only added the numbers, but the company has given us documents that have
the number at $218 million,'' Blumenthal said in an interview from his office
Saturday. "The total is $218 million, not $165
million. ... Whether the payments were made in December or March seems to be
beside the point. The total that was disclosed so far was $165 million.'' Blumenthal added that his numbers are
correct. "There's certainly no
double-counting,'' he said.
At AIG, 73 employees received bonuses of at least $1 million
each, and the highest bonus was reportedly $6.4 million for an executive who
lives at the end of a cul-de-sac in Fairfield.
Many of those receiving bonuses work out of the AIG Financial Products division
in Wilton in Fairfield County.
Continued … http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/03/aig-bonuses-were-actually-218.html
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Connecticut Attorney General's Office
Press Release
BANKS COMMITTEE CHAIRS, ATTORNEY GENERAL ISSUE SUBPOENAS FOR A.I.G.
EMPLOYEES
Several employees
ordered to appear at hearing on Thursday, March 26
March 20, 2009
Hartford – State
Senator Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and Representative Ryan Barry (D-Manchester),
co-chairs of the General Assembly’s Banks Committee, with Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal today issued subpoenas commanding several A.I.G. employees,
including CEO Edward M. Liddy, to appear at a
legislative hearing on Thursday, March 26.
The committee is
commanding testimony as well as original or copies of documents regarding the
AIG Financial Products Corporation retention bonus plan and any related
contracts or agreements. Continued … http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=2341&Q=436630
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Connecticut Attorney General's Office
Press Release
Attorney
General Demands AIG Provide Bonus Amounts,
Recipients,
Other Information
March 19, 2009
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today that his
office has demanded that AIG provide his office a list of bonus amounts and
recipients, as well as copies of contracts and other information related to
their payment.
Blumenthal said
that he will take steps to enforce the subpoena issued today by the Department
of Consumer Protection, or others, if AIG fails to provide the information
promptly.
"I have asked
AIG to provide my office a complete list of bonus recipients and amounts, as
well as related contracts and legal interpretations," Blumenthal said.
"American taxpayers -- who own more than 80 percent of AIG -- have a right
to this information, and I will subpoena the company to compel release if
necessary. AIG must come clean to its owners -- the American people.
"I urge AIG
employees to do the right thing and give back every penny. They do not deserve
this money, and they did not earn it. http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=2341&Q=436552
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Connecticut Attorney General's Office
Press Release
Attorney General's Statement On AIG Claim
That CT Wage Law Forces Company To Pay Bonuses
March 17, 2009
"I have significant doubts about the validity of AIG's claims that they are required by Connecticut law to pay these outrageous
bonuses.
"AIG is
shamelessly shielding itself behind the Connecticut
Wage Act -- a joke of a justification for squandering scarce taxpayer
resources.
"We should
use any and every well-founded legal weapon to recapture these baseless bonuses
at AIG -- rewards for financial failure and economic destruction at the
outrageous expense of taxpayers. Continued… http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=2341&Q=436328