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The former head of the American International Group sued the U.S. government for $25 billion on Monday, claiming officials should have bailed out AIG instead of taking it over. Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and his Starr International Company accused officials of discriminating against AIG. "The government is not empowered to trample shareholder and property rights even in the midst of a financial emergency," Starr alleges in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. Starr also sued the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in federal district court in Manhattan. A top Treasury Department...

A Republican senator is calling on President Obama to cancel the $12.8 million in bonuses that were approved for 10 executives at the government-seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that received a $170 billion taxpayer-funded bailout. “I am calling on the president of the United States to cancel those bonuses and explain to the American people, the taxpayers who bailed out Freddie and Fannie, why he continues to reward failure,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at a news conference Tuesday. The two housing giants have received about $141 billion in taxpayer funds since the government took them over...

Three weeks ago, when discussing the failed (yes, failed) Maiden Lane 2 auction by the New York Fed, we said: 'Something quite disturbing happened during today's latest attempt by the Fed to sell $3.8 billion in face amount of Maiden Lane 2 assets: it had a busted dutch auction. In fact, the auction was so massively busted, the New York Fed managed to sell only half of the bonds for sale, or $1.898 billion in 36 Cusips of the total 73 Cusips offered for sale." Subsequently we noted the sudden radiosilence from the Fed on this issue on Twitter. To...

I’ve written several articles skewering HBO for producing political projects destined to air immediately prior to the 2012 election, where the vast majority of the cast and crew are passionate Barack Obama supporters, and where the content is aimed at the Democrat’s two favorite Republican villains… Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. So, when I sat down to watch HBO’s Too Big to Fail, I prepared myself for the worst. What I didn’t expect was the big surprise awaiting me. Too Big to Fail, which premieres on HBO on May 23, 2011, features a star studded cast recounting the events that...

A.I.G. reported net income of $269 million for the quarter, compared with $1.78 billion a year earlier… The company noted that its continuing operations lost $1.18 billion, compared with a profit of $2.09 billion, a year earlier. The steep decline in A.I.G.’s finances comes as the insurer prepares for a major offering of the government’s shares in the company later this month… following its $182 billion bailout, which gave the government a 92 percent stake.

Countrywide’s VIP program is the first subpoena target for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said a committee aide. The “Friends of Angelo” program, named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, has been under committee investigation since 2008 for allegedly granting generous mortgage deals to influential government officials, lawmakers and employees at Fannie Mae. “Countrywide orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in high places in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards,”...

If there is one bailout where the U.S. Treasury should be uncompromising in protecting taxpayer interests, it is the rescue of American International Group. Yet, nearly two years after its near-collapse, AIG has yet to pay any cash dividends to the Treasury on the $49 billion of public money it still has invested in the company. That fact is a jarring reminder of the big compromises the government made in shoring up AIG—and the potential conflicts the Treasury still has to navigate as it tries to exit the company. AIG is making payments on the government support provided by the...

AIG CEO: Liberals are deadbeatsThe head of the government-owned insurance company claims "culture" explains why business is better in red states By Andrew Leonard Wednesday, Feb 2, 2011 15:31 ET Could Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner please send someone over to AIG to slap some sense into CEO Robert Benmosche? I am aware that the man is undergoing chemotherapy in a fight against cancer, but that's no excuse for the remarks he made at an insurance conference in Washington on Tuesday. According to Benmosche, cultural reasons explain why AIG's mortgage insurance subsidiary is doing better in red states than blue states...

Obama's Ongoing War on Inspectors GeneralBy Ed Lasky A cloud of suspicion hangs over the data Barack Obama and his team have been presenting us regarding the purported success of their own programs. The figures presented regarding "jobs created and saved" have been contested. The new metric regarding jobs "saved" has been ridiculed as just a tactic to burnish the numbers. Analysts have looked at various expenditures and have shown in example after example that each job created is often temporary in nature, sometimes occurs overseas, and is often extremely expensive. The figures regarding ObamaCare -- be they the costliness...

Documents given to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission show Goldman made $2.9bn on proprietary trades from AIG's bailout cash Goldman Sachs collected nearly $3bn (£1.9bn) from bailed-out US insurer American International Group (AIG) as a payout on bets it placed on its own account – with the bulk coming directly from taxpayers after AIG's rescue. The revelation was made in the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) report into 2008's financial meltdown. According to the US government-sponsored FCIC, AIG's $182bn bailout was necessary because the insurer's collapse threatened "cascading losses and collapses" throughout the financial system. Goldman received $12.9bn of the...

AIG will convert outstanding preferred shares purchased by the US Treasury, into common stock. When the transaction is complete the Treasury will own 0.0 preferred shares and approximately 92% of AIG's common shares. "The company (AIG) said Wednesday that it expects Treasury will sell its shares of common stock over time, repaying the debt.

Attorneys for a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War say they have filed a petition to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal district judge ruled it is OK for the U.S. government to fund commercial enterprises that promote the indoctrination of Islamic law, or Shariah, in the United States. The decision came from Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who changed his perspective on the issue and said just last week that he would dismiss a constitutional challenge brought by Kevin Murray against the U.S. government's bailout of AIG, the insurance giant. AIG used more than "$100 million...

Andrea Michell is discussing Sarah Palin (what a surprise) with Democrat David Bonier and Republican strategist Vin Weber, here's the video of Weber. ------- MITCHELL: "She had the choice of when to speak and the tone. and one has to wonder why doesn't she have a wider circling of advisers. i don't know any political strategist of a national campaign, republican or democrat who thinks that was a smart thing to do. VIN WEBER: "Well, we really don't know who advises her. She's quite isolated from what you might think of as the Republican establishment. No one is quite sure...

For the past two months, GAP has criticized the nomination of James Cole to be Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department (DOJ). We have argued that because Cole, who served as Independent Consultant at AIG during the critical time period from 2005 through 2009, missed clear signals of malfeasance, he is unsuited to serve as the second-in-command at the DOJ. Last week, after four senators requested Cole’s reports to DOJ about AIG, prior to deciding on his nomination, a DOJ spokeswoman defended Cole’s role at AIG, telling Main Justice that Critics who suggest that Mr. Cole was somehow too...

Treasury said Tuesday in its two-year retrospective on the Troubled Asset Relief Program that the net cost of TARP's AIG (AIG) bailout at current market prices is $5.1 billion. The cost of the AIG bailout has been subject of considerable head scratching in recent days, with TARP winding down and the terms of federal assistance to AIG changing for the umpteenth time....... After the proposed restructuring of AIG, TARP will hold 1.09 billion shares of AIG common stock, plus preferred equity interests in SPVs of approximately $22.3 billion, against a cost basis of $69.8 billion. Valuing the common equity at...

According to Richard Holbrooke, Richard Holbrooke is essentially this country's top diplomat -- Hillary Clinton is merely his "pupil. This despite the fact that Holbrooke has hit the trifecta of shady business dealings over the last few years: a member of AIG's board with more than $800,000 in compensation, a managing director at Lehman Brothers, and the recipient of a "Friends of Angelo" loan from Countrywide (that alone was enough to get Jim Johnson thrown under the Obama campaign bus). Now comes another revelation from the New York Times. Despite repeated denials, according to three sources, Holbrooke did offer former...

ABC News has learned that Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died. On Friday, Holbrooke was rushed to the hospital with a torn aorta. He went through more than 20 hours of surgery. Earlier this evening, speaking at the US State Department, President Obama sang Holbrooke's praises and called him "a tough son of a gun." Holbrooke, 69, was a former ambassador to the United Nations and served as chief negotiator at the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war in Bosnia. The New Yorker's George Packer wrote a nice story about Holbrooke last year,...

In a major recession, some brainiacs decided they want to build a $150 million Noah's Ark Amusement Park in Kentucky. The effort is backed by Answers in Genesis, the group that sunk millions into a "creation" museum that highlights their distorted view of science with such things as men living with dinosaurs. Many Christians are asking, however, aren't there better things to spend this money on? "Hungry people, missionaries, new churches, charities, all should be higher on the list. This is embarassing," said one churchgoer. Another added, "How can we afford to waste this money while the government is busy...

Now we see why The Fed didn't want to tell the truth - it unearth this (among probably more) Gee, what part of Section 14 of The Federal Reserve Act authorized this? On March 2, 2009, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced a restructuring of the government's assistance to AIG. Specifically, the government's restructuring was designed to enhance the company's capital and liquidity in order to facilitate the orderly completion of the company's global divestiture program. As part of this restructuring, on December 1, 2009, the Federal Reserve completed transactions under which the FRBNY received preferred interests in two...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Insurance giant AIG is reporting a $2.4 billion loss for the third quarter, dragged down by hefty charges tied to selling off some assets. But American International Group Inc., which is 80 percent-owned by the U.S. government, remains confident in its core operations, which include its property and casualty and life and retirement services business. "AIG's continuing insurance operating results remain solid," President and CEO Robert H. Benmosche said in a statement. "Despite soft market conditions in the property casualty market and a low interest rate environment, these businesses have demonstrated their market leadership and are...

The special inspector general for TARP discusses how and why the program has failed to meet some of its stated goals. . . . . Q: There have been statements since your audit report on the decision to pay 100 percent for the toxic assets in Maiden Lane III to AIG’s counterparties that said that the government and Federal Reserve Bank officials did not have the authority to require less than 100 percent payment. Yet, as you point out, the same officials did not have the authority to compel banks to accept the capital injections, yet they pressured them to...

laughed when I started seeing stories about AIG paying back the bailout money it has received. I hope I’m wrong, but the math just does not work out. Also, in a fit of hubris, the AIG CEO stated there is no chance of a government loss on this deal. Conversely, I believe there is little or no chance we will get our money back. Let’s dig into the number just a bit courtesy of Barry Ritholtz and you can draw your own conclusion: AIG Repaying Uncle Sam? Not By a Long Shot (The Big Picture, Sept. 30, 2010, Barry Ritholtz)...

I was "fiddlin" with my computer files and came across the "TARP Song" video. I played it again and got a big belly laugh. What was interesting was remembering what the H-E-Double-L was happening and going on in January 2009. Now we are chanting "We will Remember in November!" Well, I remember the "TARP Song." Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGfQk9XXm24

Ken Ham and his "Answers in Genesis" have been long criticized for their attacks on Christians who don't agree with his Genesis interpretation, his misrepresentation of what those people believe and Ham/AiG's complete lack of anything resembling biblical scholarship. So now they attack the Assemblies of God churches (http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2010/09/08/a-sad-day-for-the-assemblies-of-god-denomination/) for not latching on to the uncritical AiG beliefs. Hopefully, the AoG are simply trying to work through the issues at a scholarly level (something AiG cannot seem to do) and won't follow the current trend of some Christians in accepting theistic evolution. It is the fault of people like Ken...

Introduction: Shariah Investments Shariah Banking also known as Islamic banking or Shariah Compliant finance is a powerful economic tool of Political Islam, disguised as a harmless religious method of investing for Muslims. Western investment firms like Citigroup, HSBC, Dow Jones, UBS, and AIG have created Islamic banks within their corporate structures, hiring Shariah Authorities or Imams to manage this new entity with full discretion. Their ultimate goal is to create a global Islamic nation (umma) wherein both Muslims and non-Muslims are under Islamic sovereignty. These Shariah “scholars” use all forms of Jihad (aggressive and stealth) to further their goal. Shariah...

With the ink of President Obama's signature on the Barney Frank-Chris Dodd financial reform bill barely dry, the next bank bailout already has begun. How can that be, you might ask? Weren't we promised that this "landmark" legislation would end bank bailouts? Weren't we promised that this legislation ushered in a new era of transparency on Wall Street? Could it be that the politicians lied to us? Say it ain't so - but it is. If this brings to mind the backdoor bailout of Wall Street banks by AIG, it should. At just these three big banks, the taxpayers are...

It is “financial jihad,” explained Yusuf Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s sharia compass — and the man Feisal Rauf, the brains behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque, admires as “the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today.” It was 2002 and Qaradawi, who endorses suicide bombing and the targeting of American personnel operating in Islamic countries, was giving a lecture on the need to use the international financial system to support Islamist goals — like Hamas’s war to destroy Israel. The financial jihad has now achieved its greatest coup so far: It has co-opted the U.S. government as...

Sometimes, the revolving door spins a little too quickly. James Cole, Obama’s recent nominee for Deputy Attorney General, has worked as an independent consultant at AIG for the past five years – the company at the center of Department of Justice investigations as recently as two months ago. His firm was paid $20 million to assist with AIG’s legal compliances in that investigation. If confirmed, Cole could potentially be responsible for deciding if and how future cases of fraud would be pressed against AIG. Just as alarming was the way he handled the now-closed case when he was working for...

Deep in an article today on the government's bailout of AIG, The New York Times cites sources saying that the Treasury Department's "point man" on AIG, Don Jester, was a former Goldman Sachs employee who owned stock in the bank even as he was making decisions [1] on the bailout that ultimately channeled billions of taxpayer dollars to Goldman. Owning stock in a company an official oversees typically is verboten, but because Jester was working as an outside contractor rather than an official employee, he was exempt from conflict-of interest rules [2].Goldman Sachs stood to benefit from the AIG bailout...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. commission is planning to focus on the ties between Goldman Sachs Group Inc and American International Group Inc, and how derivatives transactions between the two financial giants may have contributed to the financial crisis. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a congressionally appointed panel, will begin two days of hearings on Wednesday headlined by former AIG Financial Products head Joseph Cassano and Goldman President Gary Cohn. A key focus on the hearing will be "how the interaction of these two financial giants may or may not have contributed to the causes of the financial crisis," Phil...

WASHINGTON — The federal government didn't exhaust all its options before it committed tens of billions of taxpayers' dollars to bail out the American International Group during the height of the 2008 financial collapse, according to a new report from a congressional watchdog panel. The Congressional Oversight Panel , which was created to monitor the spending in the 2008 bank bailout bill known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, detailed in its latest monthly report the government's extraordinary rescue of AIG and its lingering effects on taxpayers and the financial markets.

A U.S. Marine who served in Iraq is suing the federal government for distributing billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to the Shariah-supporting American International Group.The lawsuit, Murray v. Geithner et al., was brought against the Fed and the Treasury by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of Kevin Murray, a former Marine who served honorably in Iraq to defend the United States from Islamic terrorists....Coughlin, a lawyer and decorated Army Reserve officer, is a leading Pentagon expert on the link between Islamic law and jihad. He explained that by engaging in Shariah-compliant financing, AIG and the federal government...

The U.S. Justice Department has concluded its criminal probe into AIG and will not pursue charges against the insurer or its senior executives. Joseph Cassano, who headed the AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) unit that insured mortgage-related securities, and two colleagues were informed late last week that they wouldn't face charges, attorneys for Cassano confirmed Monday. "Although a two-year, intense investigation is tough for anyone, the results are wholly appropriate in light of our client's factual innocence," said Cassano's lawyers, F. Joseph Warin and Jim Walden, in a statement. "The large group of federal agents and prosecutors was diligent and professional...

American International Group Inc. (AIG) swung to a first-quarter profit as the bailed-out insurance giant saw fewer write-downs and restructuring expenses and earnings grew at its most of its core insurance businesses. The quarterly profit is the third for the company since the third quarter of 2007. Shares were up 3.1% at $37.89 in premarket trading. The stock was up 23% this year through the close. Chief Executive Robert Benmosche noted the company announced $51 billion in asset-sales transactions in the quarter, which are expected to close by year's end and allow AIG to reduce its debt and take a...

Unlike the Icelandic volcano, this was no natural disaster. Trillions of dollars have been defrauded from the U.S. taxpayer by a banking scam run by the top 1% of our country. The mark for this con game has been and continues to be every teacher, cop, firefighter, nurse, conservative saver, small investor, student and retiree. People whose pensions, homes, jobs and monthly retirement stipends have been and continue to be deprived — so these people can use our government to transfer money from your work to themselves. We also know that the same people responsible for this failed system are...

CBS NEWS has learned that former AIG executive Joseph Cassano - the prime focus of the investigation into its collapse - will meet with Department of Justice attorneys next week in what will likely be an end to the two year criminal investigation into the company. Sources tell CBS News that the criminal case against Cassano - once called "the Man who Crashed the World" - has "hit a brick wall" - meaning that it is likely no one will be held criminally liable for the downfall of the company that triggered a $182 billion dollar federal bailout. Sources tell...

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 Goldman Denies It Bet Against Clients Goldman has just issued an eight page letter to shareholders, in which it tries to defend itself against its critics, particularly regarding its conduct vis-a-vis AIG, with how it got short the residential mortgage market, and its compensation. To be more terse than usual: the AIG argument is generally plausible (and not inconsistent with what Tom Adams’ analysis has found), the other two are problematic. to put it politely. Goldman has been charged with overly aggressive marks on its AIG related exposures, which have included allegations of nefarious intent. There...

The year 2009 was one that some Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives would like to forget. Yet the firm is reliving some of its biggest controversies in its longest-ever annual letter to shareholders. The eight-page note, released Wednesday, presents Goldman's point of view directly to shareholders ahead of the firm's May 7 annual meeting. For example, criticized for putting the bank's own interests ahead of customers, Goldman Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn say in the letter that clients are at the top of the pecking order. The two executives used the words "client" or "clients"...

I don’t believe that any company is “too big to fail.” If a company has adhered to risky business practices, and the risks fail, then I think the company should be allowed to fail. I’d far rather have seen our government make it a bit easier for small and mid-sized businesses in this country to stay afloat, rather than shell out tens and hundreds of billions of TARP dollars on the likes of AIG, CitiGroup, Wells Fargo, and the likes. That said, however, I definitely don’t think the United States government should be meddling in the financial affairs of businesses...

The shady Iranian fundraiser who for years donated lucrative sums to top Democrats—including the president, vice president and secretary of state—has pleaded guilty to a major bank-fraud scheme that could land him in jail for nearly two decades.Disgraced Democratic money man Hassan Nemazee admitted this week that he defrauded three financial institutions out of nearly $300 million in loan proceeds by falsifying documents and signatures to show he had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of collateral. The Ivy League-educated crook then used the proceeds to donate big bucks to the campaigns of federal, state and local candidates. Among them...

A proposal on which U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has been working for much of the last decade is getting close to reality: an audit-the-Federal Reserve requirement that has been approved in the U.S. House and is pending in the Senate as an amendment to a piece of financial reform legislation. "They're still negotiating," said a spokeswoman for the congressman's office. "We're very hopeful that it's going to be included, maybe ... by the end of next week." She told WND that Paul would be pleased to have it pass as it stands. The plan, now pending before the Senate...

Switzerland has come under criticism in a key United States human rights report in a as an example of anti-Muslim discrimination in Europe. The US State Department’s annual report on Human Rights released in Washington on Thursday cites in its introduction last November’s popular vote in Switzerland to ban the building of minarets. It describes growing European discrimination against Muslims as “ an increasing concern”.

NEW YORK (AP) -- American International Group will sell a second overseas life and health insurance unit for $15.5 billion to MetLife Inc. in an ongoing bid to repay billions in government aid. It was the second major deal AIG completed this month to raise cash. On March 1, AIG agreed to sell Asia-based life insurer, AIA Group, to Britain's Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion....snip.... Including the latest sale, AIG will be able to slash its government debt by $50.7 billion, or 39 percent. Before the sales of AIA and Alico, AIG owed the government $94.76 billion in loans and...

Ethics: There's a 900-pound elephant in the room in Washington named Corruption. The media don't seem to have noticed it's there — because the pachyderm is actually a donkey. When Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., was exposed in the fall of 2006 sending sleazy text messages to male teenage congressional pages, the establishment press made sure it cast a heavy shadow on the entire Republican establishment. Again and again it was noted that then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other congressional GOP leaders obviously knew about Foley but did little or nothing. Where are they now that Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., is...

While everyone, including Congress, the media, and the public, have focused on AIG's $100-million bonus payments to key employees, and most recently on AIG's stealth payments to counterparties like Chase and the French giant Société Générale -- the latter made worse by the fact that it was the Federal Reserve (FED) that wanted to keep these payments hidden from public view -- the problem with the AIG bailout is much deeper and more fundamental. Just about everyone has had something to say about this bailout -- mostly that it was an ugly but necessary step to stave off a domino...

For Goldman Sachs, AIG -- and by extension, the American taxpayer -- is a gift that keeps on giving. A year and a half after Goldman pocketed billions of dollars that Uncle Sam funneled into American International Group when it was on the verge of collapse, Lloyd Blankfein's gold-plated investment bank is set to fetch as much as $100 million by selling off pieces of the insurance giant. Goldman is reaping fees from helping AIG unload billion of dollars worth of assets in an attempt to return the roughly $182 billion the insurer borrowed from average folk.

AIG’s Joe Cassano refused to let women help take down economy 4:14 PM, February 25, 2010 ι By Kaja Whitehouse A couple of former AIG employees are suing the beleaguered insurance giant for sexual discrimination in, of all places, the company’s Financial Products unit, which has been targeted as the place that nearly toppled AIG and the rest of the economy back in 2008.

Heh, Bloomberg is blowing a whistle! A potentially more important development slipped by with less notice, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue. Representative Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, placed into the hearing record a five-page document itemizing the mortgage securities on which banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA had bought $62.1 billion in credit-default swaps from AIG. Yeah. But that 62.1 billion is just part of the problem. See, we seem to be into these clowns for $180 billion. How come, if there was "just"...

On January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis. The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses -- meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly...

Here’s the latest in the question of the New York Fed, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the AIG bailout, as we’ve covered here at Big Government before (here and here). Last year, Iraq war vet Kevin Murray brought a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and Ben Bernanke (Murray vs. Geithner, et al) for its acquisition of AIG– a scheme that made the US taxpayer the world’s largest provider of Shariah-compliant insurance products. Lawyers David Yerushalmi and The Thomas More Law Center’s Robert Muise found, in the course of discovery, that that was just the tip of the iceberg. Yerushalmi and...