And of course, a good share of the blame goes to the lack of effective regulation under the Bush administration. Remember that economic crash the next time you hear a damned republican talking about 'onerous regulation'. These are the people and the kind of abuses they are trying to protect from regulation and enforcement.
I hope this jerk spends a fortune and gains nothing in his suit.
Former AIG chief sues U.S. for $25 billion
Choi Jae-Ku/AFP/Getty ImagesMaurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chairman of American International Group (shown in 2003 file photo), is back in court with a lawsuit against the federal government. By Martha C. WhiteFormer American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg thinks he got a raw deal, and he wants the government to pay up. Greenberg filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims asserting that the government bailout and takeover of the insurance giant was an unconstitutional seizure of private property, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Greenberg's Starr International Co., which used to be AIG's biggest stakeholder, is seeking $25 billion in damages, based on the value of the 80 percent stake in AIG the government took after providing it with an $182 billion bailout.
Those funds allowed AIG to pay off counterparties like Goldman Sachs in full and reward executives with $165 million in bonuses in 2008, even though AIG lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of that year. This situation raised considerable ire among both the public and investors. AIG's own value plummeted and it was reduced to selling off assets to pay back the government, both moves of which hurt Greenberg's stake in the firm.
An AIG representative declined to comment on the suit via email; the Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Journal said that the Treasury Department had no immediate comment.
This isn't Greenberg's first legal tussle with the government, and it's not the first time he's clashed with his former company. Greenberg left AIG in 2005 after an accounting fraud investigation was launched by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The criminal charges didn't stick, but in 2009, Greenberg paid $15 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting violations. Also in that year, a federal judge ruled that Greenberg was entitled to $4.3 billion in AIG shares the company had sued in an attempt to recover.