Joseph Cassano
He even has hair like Chris Dodd. I bet that won't keep well in a prison cell. Oink!
Posted on 03/30/2009 8:02:48 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Joseph Cassano Made More Than $300 Million at the Insurance Firm He Virtually Bankrupted
The FBI and federal prosecutors are reportedly closing in on the AIG executive whose suspect investments cost the insurance giant hundreds of billions of dollars. The government is investigating whether or not 54-year old Brooklyn-native Joseph Cassano committed criminal fraud in virtually bankrupting the company.
"He almost single-handedly is responsible for bringing AIG down and by reference the economy of this country," said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Ca.)
Cassano, who lives in London, made more than $300 million running the infamous Financial Products Division of AIG where he, with about a dozen others, committed AIG to insure what turned out to be more than a trillion dollars worth of junk quality loans held by banks.
"He is the golden boy of the casino," said Rep. Speier. "They basically took peoples' hard earned money and threw it away, gambled it and lost everything. And he must be held accountable for the fraud, for the dereliction of his duty, and for the havoc that he's wrought on America."
When approached by ABC News outside of his London home Cassano said he did not want to talk about the allegations against him.
Cassano Received $1M a Month Even After He Was Fired From AIG After the huge losses became known, Cassano was fired from AIG in early 2008, but he still received a salary of $1 million a month until Congress intervened. AIG has received about a $180 billion in bailout funds so far.
"AIG was insuring junk and it was the AIG insurance that made the junk marketable," said tax law expert Jack Blum. "American taxpayers have been put on the hook for this insurance junk."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
RTFA
Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS CORP/FINCIAL 1/10/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
Cassano, Joseph
Westport,CT 06880 AIG Financial Products Corp 7/31/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL/PRESIDENT & CEO 11/22/06 $2,100 Dodd, Christopher J (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL 11/22/06 $2,100 Dodd, Chris (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS/PRESIDENT/CE 7/26/06 $2,000 Johnson, Nancy L (R)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG/PRESIDENT 3/16/07 $2,000 Baucus, Max (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS 4/18/04 $1,200 Dodd, Chris (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS 7/10/98 $1,000 Dodd, Christopher J (D)
CASSANO, JOSEPH
WESTPORT,CT 06880 AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS 4/28/04 $718 Dodd, Chris (D)
Cassano, Joseph
Westport,CT 06880 AIG Financial Products Corp/Fincial 7/24/08 $200 DNC Services Corp (D)
Joseph Cassano
He even has hair like Chris Dodd. I bet that won't keep well in a prison cell. Oink!
Amen.
So they found a convenient fall guy, thats great! He might even be guilty. Unlike, for example, other AIG employees that Barney Frank wanted to subject to public ridicule.
Isn’t this what Spitzer did to Hank Greenberg? He made public statements and accusations, forced Greenberg to resign and then filed no charges. But hey, Spitzer was laughing all the way to Albany.
Now Greenberg is gone and AIG is bust. The government uses it as a venue for money laundering and we, at a conservative web site, are celebrating an attack on another AIG executive. Way to go!
It will be interesting to read what fintag.com says about this jerk tomorrow morning.
I don’t know. Looks to me like Cassano perpetrated the insurance fraud scheme and cooked the books to hide it. Chris Dodd and Hank Paulson knew of it and were enablers and direct beneficiaries. Dodd the regulator was bribed. When the scheme fell apart because of the mortgage market debacle, Paulson saw the handwriting on the wall and went to Bush. His b/s story scared Bush so badly that he went along with the 700 billion dollar payoff which was really designed to plug the holes so the whole scheme didn’t collapse and expose the truth. Obviously it didn’t work. In the second round, now with Geithner calling the shots, he had Dodd write in the amendment to authorize the AIG exec bonuses which were payoffs to Cassano’s employees as hush money to keep them quiet. But that blew up too, so now these stiffed execs are talking to the prosecutors. Won’t be long until the stuff hits the fan. There’s enough here to bring down a whole boatload of big fish.
If I were a criminal investigator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I’d work on just such a model.
Ever study law? Economics?
So the Dems deposed a guy and the new guys the Dems let in cratered AIG and the economy. The PLOT THICKENS!
I do not disagree. If he is accused of doing some thing wrong, he should go to trial. If he is convicted he should go to jail and provide restitution.
I do object to this public flogging of a private individual before he is even officially accused of anything. The only people who benefit are the politicians who are using this guy to deflect attention from their own wrongdoings.
> Ever study law? Economics?
No and no. Whats your point?
From what I can tell the Cassano situation is much more serious than what Spitzer came up with to try to “get” Hank Greenberg. And if Cassano really did sit on an internal auditor, that is going to be compelling for a jury, even setting aside the technical fraudulent disclosure analysis which seems strong to me.
My point is that I knew the answer to those two questions before I asked.
As I mentioned in a previous post if he is guilty he should go to jail and provide restitution.
He is not even accused of anything (yet). His only function right now is to deflect attention from politicians. Why are we helping them?
Popular magazines meet the financial crisis ( some very interesting theories )
Check post # 8.
Well, he’s in thick as thieves with some mighty crooked public figures, so as far as I’m concerned it’s open season. It was his unit and his shady doings that ultimately brought down the whole shebang.
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