Cuomo will subpoena to get AIG bonus details
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American International Group will be subpoenaed for the names of the employees who were paid retention bonuses, New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said today.
Cuomo had demanded that AIG supply the information by 4 p.m. EDT, a deadline the company didn’t meet.
In a conference call with reporters, Cuomo addressed AIG’s stance that the company has employment contracts under which it was liable to make the retention bonus payments -- despite the government’s subsequent bailout of the firm, which has made Uncle Sam the controlling shareholder.
From Bloomberg News:
‘If the taxpayer didn’t bail out AIG, those contracts wouldn’t be worth the paper they’re printed on,’ Cuomo said. ‘Just because there’s a contract doesn’t mean there’s no way around the contract.’ ‘The whole concept of a performance bonus to me is oxymoronic when it comes to AIG,’ he said. ‘These are people especially in the financial products’ division that virtually’ bankrupted the company, ‘that’s why the taxpayer had to come in.’
President Obama today vowed the goverment would find a way to get the money back.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on AIG executives to ‘voluntarily forgo their excessive retention payments.’
No word yet whether any AIG employees are offering to be first in the give-back line.
-- Tom Petruno