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teomaxxx · 03-15-2009, 02:05 AM

$165 Million in bonuses, for what?
those guys should be glad they didnt end up in prison for running CDS ponzi scam. once again wallstreet owning the goverment aka taxpayer big time.
and wait, next quater they are going to ask for more bailout money too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/bu...5AIG.html?_r=2
A.I.G. Planning $165 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON — The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to 400 executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.

The payments to A.I.G.’s troubled financial products division are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. Mr. Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the second half of their bonuses to their performance in restructuring the company.

The payment of so much money at a company at the heart of the financial collapse that sent the broader economy into a tailspin almost certainly will fuel a popular backlash against the government’s efforts to prop up Wall Street. Past bonuses already have prompted President Obama and Congress to impose tough rules on corporate executive compensation at firms bailed out with taxpayer money.

A.I.G., nearly 80 percent of which is now owned by the government, defended its bonuses to the financial products unit, arguing that they were promised last year before the crisis and cannot be legally canceled. In a letter to Mr. Geithner, Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G., said at least some bonuses were needed to keep the most skilled executives.

“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.

Still, Mr. Liddy seemed stung by his talk with Mr. Geithner, calling their conversation last Wednesday “a difficult one for me” and noting that he receives no bonus himself. “Needless to say, in the current circumstances,” Mr. Liddy wrote, “I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them.”

An A.I.G. spokeswoman said Saturday that the company had no comment beyond the letter. The bonuses were first reported by The Washington Post.

The senior government official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the administration was outraged. “It is unacceptable for Wall Street firms receiving government assistance to hand out million-dollar bonuses, while hard-working Americans bear the burden of this economic crisis,” the official said.

Of all the financial institutions that have been propped up by taxpayer dollars, none has received more money than A.I.G. and none has infuriated lawmakers more with practices that policy makers have called reckless.

The bonuses in dispute fall into two categories. A general pool of $121 million was set aside for 6,411 senior employees across the vast company, with $9.6 million of that reserved for the 50 highest-ranking executives. Although he had no specific authority to stop these bonuses, the administration official said Mr. Geithner last week forced A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million in bonuses to the top executives in half and pay out the rest in installments later in the year only if they make progress in selling off business units and repaying the government.

Seven of those top 50 executives are taking no bonuses at all, meaning the rest were due on average $223,000 until the cash payments were cut in half. The bonuses to the rest of the 6,400 employees in this category will be unaffected and average out to about $17,500.

The second category of bonuses was a retention program at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages.

A.I.G. set up a special bonus pool for the financial products unit early in 2008, before the company’s near collapse, when problems stemming from the mortgage crisis were becoming clear and there were concerns that some of the best-informed derivatives specialists might leave. It locked in a total amount for the unit and prepared to pay it in a series of installments to encourage people to stay.

Although the company’s problems eventually deepened so much that the government had to step in with taxpayer money, A.I.G. said in documents sent to the Treasury Department last week that it was still required to pay about $165 million in bonuses to executives in the financial products unit on or before Sunday. That is in addition to $55 million in bonuses paid in that unit in December.

The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses. Including the December and March disbursements, the average payment comes to about $550,000.

Mr. Liddy, whom Federal Reserve and Treasury officials recruited after A.I.G. faltered last September and received its first round of bailout money, said the company was for the most part legally required to pay the bonuses and retention pay. In his letter to Mr. Geithner, Mr. Liddy wrote that he showed the details of the bonus pool to outside lawyers and was told that A.I.G. had no choice but to follow through with the payment schedule.

The administration official said the Treasury Department conducted its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken. The official noted that even a provision recently pushed through Congress by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, had an exemption for such bonus agreements already in place.

But the official said the administration plans to force A.I.G. to eventually repay taxpayers the $220 million cost of the financial products division bonuses as part of the government’s agreement with the firm, which is being restructured.

In an effort to address Mr. Geithner’s concerns, Mr. Liddy wrote that the 25 highest-paid executives at the financial products division had agreed to reduce their salary for the rest of 2009 to $1 and all other top officers in the division will take a 10 percent salary cut. Additionally, he wrote, A.I.G. hoped to reduce its retention bonuses for 2009 by 30 percent.

A.I.G.’s main business is insurance, but the financial products unit sold hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of derivatives, the notorious credit-default swaps that nearly toppled the entire company last fall. The financial products unit is now being painstakingly wound down.

03-15-2009, 02:05 AM
teomaxxx Confirmed User Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,734	AIG plans $165 Million in Bonuses to 400 Execs $165 Million in bonuses, for what? those guys should be glad they didnt end up in prison for running CDS ponzi scam. once again wallstreet owning the goverment aka taxpayer big time. and wait, next quater they are going to ask for more bailout money too. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/bu...5AIG.html?_r=2 A.I.G. Planning $165 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and PETER BAKER WASHINGTON — The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to 400 executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year. Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them. The payments to A.I.G.’s troubled financial products division are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. Mr. Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the second half of their bonuses to their performance in restructuring the company. The payment of so much money at a company at the heart of the financial collapse that sent the broader economy into a tailspin almost certainly will fuel a popular backlash against the government’s efforts to prop up Wall Street. Past bonuses already have prompted President Obama and Congress to impose tough rules on corporate executive compensation at firms bailed out with taxpayer money. A.I.G., nearly 80 percent of which is now owned by the government, defended its bonuses to the financial products unit, arguing that they were promised last year before the crisis and cannot be legally canceled. In a letter to Mr. Geithner, Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G., said at least some bonuses were needed to keep the most skilled executives. “We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday. Still, Mr. Liddy seemed stung by his talk with Mr. Geithner, calling their conversation last Wednesday “a difficult one for me” and noting that he receives no bonus himself. “Needless to say, in the current circumstances,” Mr. Liddy wrote, “I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them.” An A.I.G. spokeswoman said Saturday that the company had no comment beyond the letter. The bonuses were first reported by The Washington Post. The senior government official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the administration was outraged. “It is unacceptable for Wall Street firms receiving government assistance to hand out million-dollar bonuses, while hard-working Americans bear the burden of this economic crisis,” the official said. Of all the financial institutions that have been propped up by taxpayer dollars, none has received more money than A.I.G. and none has infuriated lawmakers more with practices that policy makers have called reckless. The bonuses in dispute fall into two categories. A general pool of $121 million was set aside for 6,411 senior employees across the vast company, with $9.6 million of that reserved for the 50 highest-ranking executives. Although he had no specific authority to stop these bonuses, the administration official said Mr. Geithner last week forced A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million in bonuses to the top executives in half and pay out the rest in installments later in the year only if they make progress in selling off business units and repaying the government. Seven of those top 50 executives are taking no bonuses at all, meaning the rest were due on average $223,000 until the cash payments were cut in half. The bonuses to the rest of the 6,400 employees in this category will be unaffected and average out to about $17,500. The second category of bonuses was a retention program at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages. A.I.G. set up a special bonus pool for the financial products unit early in 2008, before the company’s near collapse, when problems stemming from the mortgage crisis were becoming clear and there were concerns that some of the best-informed derivatives specialists might leave. It locked in a total amount for the unit and prepared to pay it in a series of installments to encourage people to stay. Although the company’s problems eventually deepened so much that the government had to step in with taxpayer money, A.I.G. said in documents sent to the Treasury Department last week that it was still required to pay about $165 million in bonuses to executives in the financial products unit on or before Sunday. That is in addition to $55 million in bonuses paid in that unit in December. The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses. Including the December and March disbursements, the average payment comes to about $550,000. Mr. Liddy, whom Federal Reserve and Treasury officials recruited after A.I.G. faltered last September and received its first round of bailout money, said the company was for the most part legally required to pay the bonuses and retention pay. In his letter to Mr. Geithner, Mr. Liddy wrote that he showed the details of the bonus pool to outside lawyers and was told that A.I.G. had no choice but to follow through with the payment schedule. The administration official said the Treasury Department conducted its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken. The official noted that even a provision recently pushed through Congress by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, had an exemption for such bonus agreements already in place. But the official said the administration plans to force A.I.G. to eventually repay taxpayers the $220 million cost of the financial products division bonuses as part of the government’s agreement with the firm, which is being restructured. In an effort to address Mr. Geithner’s concerns, Mr. Liddy wrote that the 25 highest-paid executives at the financial products division had agreed to reduce their salary for the rest of 2009 to $1 and all other top officers in the division will take a 10 percent salary cut. Additionally, he wrote, A.I.G. hoped to reduce its retention bonuses for 2009 by 30 percent. A.I.G.’s main business is insurance, but the financial products unit sold hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of derivatives, the notorious credit-default swaps that nearly toppled the entire company last fall. The financial products unit is now being painstakingly wound down.