What Bailout? AIG CEO Prefers Making Wine

(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»

Figure makes a mockery of government's 'populist image': blogger

(NEWSER) - The new CEO of AIG is bringing home $7 million a year to restore the bailed-out firm to health, Bloomberg reports. Robert Benmosche will receive $3 million in cash and $4 million in common stock, a regulatory filing notes. “The cash component had to be enough to attract a very strong candidate and give that person enough incentive to make a change,” says an expert. More»

Attorney general charges insurer with 'unwarranted and outrageous expenditures'

(NEWSER) - New York's attorney general today called on AIG's directors to recover millions in “outrageous expenditures,” including golden parachutes to executives even as it neared the collapse that brought an $85 billion federal intervention, the Wall Street Journal reports. Andrew Cuomo is investigating whether the insurer broke state law by making such decisions without consulting its creditor—the state, in this case. More»

They say takeover violated investors' fifth amendment rights

(NEWSER) - Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg is suing the US government for $25 million for having the effrontery to bail out the dying insurer. Greenberg was ousted in 2005 after allegedly cooking AIG’s books to inflate its value, but still had a keen interest in the company during the bailout, because his firm, Starr International Co., was its largest shareholder. Now Greenberg’s saying that the bailout of the firm violated shareholders’ constitutional rights, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Watchdog says TARP spending aided France, Germany

(NEWSER) - A big slice of the $700 billion in bailout funds the US poured into the financial system ended up helping foreign companies, according to a report from a congressional watchdog agency. Because the Treasury Department failed to gather enough information on the flow of money, it ended up taking on risk that should have been shouldered by France and Germany, according to the Congressional Oversight Panel. More»