AIG CEO: Bonuses 'Distasteful,' Necessary

VP's resignation letter rips cowardly CEO, grandstanding pols

(NEWSER) - Though he says he’s blameless for the mess that brought down AIG, and worked 14-hour days at $1 a year to help dismantle the insurer, executive Jake DeSantis feels “betrayed” by CEO Edward Liddy—and lets him know in a resignation letter published by the New York Times. He rips elected officials for “persecution,” and Liddy for not standing up to them, particularly over bonuses. More»

NY takes tough action to limit payouts to curNewser Newsroom 1.15.0rent, former bigwigs

(NEWSER) - AIG will suspend bonus payments to its executives after getting pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The ailing insurance firm, which recently got billions of dollars in loans from the Federal Reserve, also will stop $19 million in payments to a former CEO fired in June. Cuomo said it made no sense to reward management under the circumstances. More»

Greenberg's new insurer poaches AIG employees at taxpayers' expense

(NEWSER) - Hank Greenberg built AIG into a $1 trillion behemoth that needed the biggest bailout in history—but quietly, the former CEO has begun a new insurance company, CV Starr, that is poaching some of AIG's leading talent. He just got an unintended assist from the Treasury: Tough new pay rules at AIG have sent employees fleeing to Greenberg, further hurting the mega-company's ability to pay back the taxpayer. "Basically, he's just starting AIG Two and raiding people out of AIG One," said one insurance exec. More»

(NEWSER) - Robert Benmosche has been at the head of AIG for 48 hours now, so naturally it's time for a vacation. The new CEO of the four-times-bailed-out insurer is leaving for his 8,000-square foot villa on the Adriatic for the next two weeks. "It’s probably not a propitious time for an incoming CEO to begin with a vacation," one HR manager tells Bloomberg. More»

Says he doesn't back retention bonuses

(NEWSER) - AIG’s former CEO tells CBS that the bonuses now sparking national outrage would not have happened under his watch. Hank Greenberg, ousted in 2005, said he doesn’t back such retention bonuses, blamed the firm's collapse on the "stupidity" of his successors, and thinks the current CEO should go. “When I was there, nobody had a contract in the company, including me. I didn't believe in them. If you didn't do the job, you didn't deserve to be there,” he said. More»