Posted on 06/15/2009 9:39:54 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
AIG lawyer: Ex-top exec plundered retirement plan
By MADLEN READ
The Associated Press
Monday, June 15, 2009; 9:35 PM
NEW YORK -- The former top executive of American International Group Inc. plundered an AIG retirement program of billions of dollars because he was angry at being forced out of the company, a lawyer for AIG told jurors Monday at the start of a civil trial. Attorney Theodore Wells told the jury in Manhattan that former AIG Chief Executive Officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg improperly took $4.3 billion in stock from the company in 2005, after he was ousted by the company amid investigations of accounting irregularities.
"Hank Greenberg was mad. He was angry," Wells said in U.S. District Court of the emotional state of the man who, over a 35-year-career, built AIG from a small company into the world's largest insurance provider. He said the saga is a story of "anger, betrayal and cover-up."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ping!
Wow. This is the King of all tantrums. This nutjob needs to go to jail pronto. Hope all the money can be recovered.
Too bad he didn’t pull this off in China. They dispose of their waste.
I think that the press will soon have another “Man we all love to hate” to write about.
Unfortunately another Jew we will all love to hate. And the beat goes on.
Say what? That is over the line Hildy.
If so, is he going to be looking at criminal charges at some point?
Don’t believe all you read. This is 1 side of the story and the government who hated AIG and needs a scapegoat will do what it can to make the prior management look bad to protect it’s current management the government installed. My bet is what he did was perfectly legal and in accordance with a contract. But contracts don’t mean much with this administration.
EXCERPT Insurance giant AIG is trying to seize a $490M charitable endowment -- and claw back $27 million it already awarded to New York charities -- to pay executive bonuses. The endowment, called Starr International Foundation, is run by former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg..... At issue is a legal conundrum that started in the 1970s, when Greenberg was building AIG into the world's largest insurance empire, and wanted a way to reward his executives off the books.
Greenberg and several co-founders set up their own offshore piggy bank -- unaffiliated with AIG ownership -- and seeded it with their own stock shares that would pay dividends and build up nest eggs and bonuses for retiring executives. The separate company, Starr International Co., worked well for decades. But in 2005, Greenberg was pushed out of AIG in a boardroom coup, foreshadowing AIG's collapse.
Greenberg closed his piggy bank for any future bonuses beyond 2005, though AIG executives who had vested by that point can collect when they turn 65.
The rest of the AIG shares held by Starr International Co. -- about $290M -- were transferred to a charitable subsidiary, Starr International Foundation. AIG said it's entitled to the whole pot of stock going back to 2005, when it was worth about $20 billion. A year ago, it was worth nearly $11B, until AIG's recent collapse. At Friday's close, the shares were worth $490M.
AIG says it has the right to seize the stock because Greenberg set up the company specifically for company employees. The insurer says in a legal filing that it needs the foundation's money "for the exclusive purpose of being distributed to AIG employees in the future." AIG intends to go to trial in federal court June 15.
AIG lawyers said in documents it would seek not just the shares still left in the foundation's coffers, but the shares the foundation already cashed out in the past three years to raise $27M in grant money.
The government owns nearly 80% of AIG via Treasury's $70 billion cash infusion and loans for up to $85B. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who has often grilled AIG in congressional probes, said that if AIG wins the money from the foundations and other charities, "it should go to taxpayers, not for bonuses." http://www.nypost.com/seven/05312009/business/aig_charity_grab_171832.htm
Well, the prosecutor seems to be a Republican, and his defense lawyer fought the 2000 election case for Al Gore, sooooo........
Is there a prosecutor in this case? Did you possibly mean plaintiff's attorney?
My bad. I suppose I did.
Greenberg was forced out of AIG because of indictments handed down by Spitzer whilst he was AG of NY.
But, Spitzer never prosecuted because of insufficient evidence ...
And Greenberg was still out of AIG ...
Don’t ya think Spitzer woulda gone after Greenberg if there was evidence that he looted AIG ???
I think the plaintiff in this case is pissin’ in the wind ...
C.V. Starr is a separate company and always has been. The senior executives at AIG were also employees of C.V. Starr along with others. AIG doesn’t own the stock that C.V. Starr does. Separate legal persons of course with this administration laws & contracts don’t mean anything.
I am Jewish. I am telling you that all of these financial scandals Perpetrated by Jewish men and wonmen is not good as it gives Jew haters more fodder. That’s what I meant.
I am Jewish. I am telling you that all of these financial scandals Perpetrated by Jewish men and wonmen is not good as it gives Jew haters more fodder. That’s what I meant.
Thanks for clarifying. I understand the context now. Your comment was so short I couldn’t tell exactly what you were getting at...just checking!
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