– New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating “unwarranted and outrageous expenditures” at American International Group Inc., which received an $85 billion federal bailout last month.
In a letter to AIG’s board of directors, Cuomo demanded the company stop “extravagant” expenditures and recover millions of dollars in unreasonable payments, or face legal action.
Cuomo cited a $5 million bonus and a $15 million “golden parachute” AIG awarded its chief executive officer in March. Martin Sullivan was AIG’s CEO at the time. Cuomo said the company also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on “luxurious retreats” for executives, including an overseas hunting party and a golf outing.
“The party is over,” Cuomo said today at a press conference on Wall Street in lower Manhattan. “No more hunting trips. No more luxury resorts. They are not going to have the party and leave the hangover for the taxpayers.”
Cuomo claimed in his letter that the expenditures violated the state’s debtor-creditor law and demanded an accounting of AIG’s executive compensation and benefits since January 2007. He said the government’s financial rescue of AIG made the expenditures “even more irresponsible and damaging.”
The U.S. government offered AIG an $85 billion loan last month as the company slipped toward insolvency. The company may access an additional $37.8 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to replenish liquidity.
At least someone, somewhere is going after these guys.