http://business.timesonline.co.uk/t...ectors/banking_and_finance/article5926545.ece Eleven AIG executives quit despite bonuses up to $4.6 million <!-- END: Module - Main Heading --><!--CMA user Call Diffrenet Variation Of Image --><!-- BEGIN: M24 Article Headline with landscape image (d) --><script type="text/javascript" src="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/js/m24-image-browser.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/js/tol.js"></script><!-- BEGIN: Module - M24 Article Headline with landscape image (d) --><script type="text/javascript"> <!-- /* Global variables that are used for "image browsing". 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Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Attorney General, revealed this afternoon that the expensive retention payments were not enough to keep the staff on the payroll. The news undermined the argument of government-appointed AIG boss Edward Liddy that the bonuses were necessary to retain “the best and brightest talent". Mr Cuomo demanded to be told who had received $165 million worth of bonuses yesterday, but AIG refused to disclose the information despite accepting a multi-billion dollar bailout package from the government. <!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --><script type="text/javascript"> <!-- function pictureGalleryPopup(pubUrl,articleId) { var newWin = window.open(pubUrl+'template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id='+articleId+'&&offset=0&§ionName=IndustrySectorsBankingFinance','mywindow','menubar=0,resizable=0,width=1000,height=711'); } //--></script><!-- BEGIN: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- END: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Package --><!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Package -->Related Links <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form> AIG blocks Obama over 'outrageous' bonuses <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form> Senator suggests AIG chiefs commit suicide <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form> Bailed-out banks brought to account by TMZ <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form><form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form><form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form><form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form><form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"></form> <!-- BEGIN: POLL --><!--This block will execute if an article of type Poll is attached--><!-- END : POLL --><!-- BEGIN: DEBATE--><!-- END: DEBATE--> <!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --><!-- Call Wide Article Attachment Module --><!--TEMPLATE:call file="wideArticleAttachment.jsp" /--> In a letter to Barney Frank, chairman of the finance committee in the US House of Representatives, he wrote: “Eleven of the individuals who received ’retention’ bonuses of one million dollars or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received 4.6 million dollars.” Mr Cuomo vowed to subpoena the insurer to force it to divulge the names, job descriptions and performance of the workers involved. He plans to investigate whether the bonus payments breached state law. The payments may be illegal if they were promised at a time when AIG knew that it did not have the cash to meet its commitments. In the letter to Congress, Mr Cuomo also revealed that the ten AIG employees who received the largest bonuses were paid a total of $42 million dollars. “These payments were all made to individuals . . . whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG,” he wrote. A total of 73 employees received a million dollars or more, Mr Cuomo said. “Thus, last week, AIG made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing a taxpayer bailout. Something is deeply wrong with this outcome,” he said. <!-- End of pagination --><!-- Show rating of this article --><!-- Contextual links Module --><!-- End Contextual links Module --><!-- Functionality for Comment :START--><!-- Functionality for Comment --><script type="text/javascript" src="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/js/m20-enter-view-comment.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> <!-- var show=false; var articleID = "5926545"; var sHaveYourSay = 'Have your say'; var sCollapseForm = 'Hide the form'; var sHideMostComments = 'Show fewer comments'; var errorString = ''; var testFlag = true; var request = false; //var nTotalCharacters = 300; // Value for the total number of characters that can be submitted - change to suit requirements // // Array of required fields for the named form var aFormEnterViewCommentValidation = new Array('your_view','name','email','town_fs_city'); /* get the cookie string in cookie associated with cookiename */ function getCookie(Name) { var search = Name + "=" var CookieString = document.cookie var result = null if (CookieString.length> 0) { offset = CookieString.indexOf(search) if (offset != -1) { offset += search.length end = CookieString.indexOf(";", offset) if (end == -1) end = CookieString.length result = unescape(CookieString.substring(offset, end)) } } return result } /* set the cookie string in cookie */ function setCookie (name, value, lifespan) { var cookietext = name + "=" + escape(value) if (lifespan != null) { var today=new Date() var expiredate = new Date() expiredate.setTime(today.getTime() + 1000*60*60*24*lifespan) cookietext += "; 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} */ if (testFlag == false) { document.getElementById("enter-view-comment-error-container").className = 'color-bd0000'; document.getElementById("enter-view-comment-error-container").style.fontWeight = 'bold'; document.getElementById("enter-view-comment-error-container").innerHTML = "Error: "+errorString+" "; return false; } else { return true; document.getElementById("enter-view-comment-error-container").className = ''; document.getElementById("enter-view-comment-error-container").style.fontWeight = 'normal'; } } var sReadAllComments = ""; //--></script><!-- BEGIN: M20 - Enter View Comment --><script type="text/javascript"><!-- var bHaveComments=true ; //--></script> Have your say <script type="text/javascript"><!-- fGenerateHaveYourSayLink('have-your-say-link-1', 'comments-form', sHaveYourSay); //--></script><noscript> Have your say </noscript> We have bankruptcy laws that would have applied (employees with bonusses would have lined up with other creditors - and probably got nothing. Seems we need some bailout laws to be written. A nice touch would be the board of directors would be personally financially repsonsible for any bonusses. Dave, Victoria, H
If AIG refused to pay the bonuses, and the employees tried to enforce their contracts, wouldn't their names become part of public record under the lawsuit? I'm trying to read the package (but it's horribly long). It looks to me as if the bonuses have been covered and do not have to be returned to the taxpayer (but I'm no legal beagle... just a curious cat ). ‘‘SEC. 111. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.(3)‘‘(D)(IV)‘‘(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.
What irks me most of all is that the rats waited until the bonus checks cleared and then bailed. There is no descriptive term to cover that.
I would have done the same thing. Get the cash and jump from the sinking ship. Ever wonder what they know that we don't? Don't most people who are going to leave a company leave after bonus time if it is voluntary? That is how the real world works. Obama and Co all knew this was going to happen, and all the whiners out there voted for these guys to get their compensation that was part of Tarp 2...and a final amendment by Chris Dodd allowed all previous agreements to be legal. They all knew this was coming and the architect was Geitner. Why are we pissed off over 150 million dollars when the real crime is the bailouts in the first place. If all the people quit AIG tomorrow, then AIG doesn't exist and the US Taxpayer is screwed even more than they are already.