Hardball: timeline of AIG bonuses

I don’t know what happened to this post so I’m reposting it. It goes along with the AIG timeline (9/08 - 3/09) and Tim Geithner’s (3/10-15) - see below. For AIG before Sept 2008 see Paul Kiel at Pro Publica. He goes into the financial details.

March 20, 2009

Time line of bonuses per Hardball.

Sept 08: AIG revealed bonus plan in regulatory filings.

Sept 16: Fed saves AIG by pledging $85 billion

Oct 8: Fed pledges another $37.8 billion

Nov 08: US Treasury and Federal Reserve negotiated AIG’s retention payments and pledge a total of $150 billion

Present Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner was President of the NY Federal Reserve at the time. The fact that he denied knowing about them says he’s either a liar or totally inept. Time will tell if he’s both.

Dec 08: Reps. Kanjorski & Cummings complained about bonuses.

Congress knew.

Feb 09: Federal Reserve told Treasury about bonuses — Geithner opposed tax on bonuses,

Geithner knew.

March 10: Geithner learned “the full scale” of bonuses.

He got caught.

March 12: Geithner told barry advisor Axelrod. He said choosing to go ahead with the bonuses – 70 people received $1 million each or more — was “secondarily a legal consideration and primarily a risk consideration.”

***

AIG Timeline
Hardball: timeline of bonuses
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned
Andrew Cuomo’s letter to AIG (10-28-08)
Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

April 8, 2009

Sen Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee was talking to Ed Schultz on MSNBC and they got around to the poll results.

Quinnipiac University Poll
March 26- 31
MOE +/- 2.9

Who do voters blame for AIG bonuses?
1-Bush
2-Dodd

Chris Dodd among CT voters:
Disapprove 58%
Approve 33%

Listen to how he asks the question. He goes out of his way not to use the word “lie”.

ED SCHULTZ: How much do you think that hurt you - reversal of your position, and also the way you changed, you know, your position on the bonuses as to who was responsible for how the bonuses were dished out?

DODD: It hurt terribly. I acknowledge that.

In February, I wrote up an 8 page amendment to deal with bonuses, golden parachutes and luxury items, and the like, to try and deal with these issues across the board - not one fact situations one after another.

And that was the right thing to do, and I still stand by it.

He should have stuck completely to it.

DODD: In February, if I had known then what I now know — no one brought up or had any idea that there were bonuses for AIG involved all of this - then we obviously would have taken a different position.

He’s chairman of the committee — who is he expecting to “bring things up”? And how is saying no one had any idea an excuse? Why didn’t “we” have an idea? That’s what created the problem. And how much doesn’t he still not know?

DODD: But, the administration came to me, along with some others, and said ‘Look this is going to create some real legal problems’. It made some sense, I thought, at the time. I now know that it was a mistake. I’d like to have that moment back.

Totally lame. Imagine what would have happened if they tried to sue - especially the 11 that weren’t even working for AIG when they got their “retention” bonuses.

ED: You were afraid of the legal aspect of all of this?

DODD: That’s what-those were the arguments raised to me. And as I said nobody brought up AIG at the time. And had they done so, and I had known we’d be confronting the problem here, I would have had a very different position.

Notice the two qualifiers…if somebody told him and if he had known he’d get caught - which goes along with word regret no I’m sorry.

DODD: I regret that deeply. It caused an awful lot of frustration and an awful lot of anger at me in my state. I understand it. I acknowledge it. And I’m gonna try to fix it.

There is no personal responsibility admitted to here and he came off like he always does - angry.

***

AIG Timeline
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned
Andrew Cuomo’s letter to AIG (10-28-08)
Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

Chuckle from Jay Leno re: AIG

March 25, 2009

Last night on Leno:

A very strange incident at JFK airport in New York City today....An AIG executive going through security had to empty out all his pockets...

You know what fell out?

Senator Chris Dodd!

Mario Cuome $30M of AIG bonuses may be returned

March 24, 2009
Morning Joe

Mario Cuomo, NY Attorney General, says some of the AIG bonus recipients are willing to return the money. He sure sounds like his son.

CUOMO (phone call): So far 9 of the top 10 recipients have agreed to give the bonuses back. Of the top 20 recipients, 15 have agreed to return the bonuses. Those bonuses will be returned in full...I would like to say to the individuals who have given the money back, you have done the "right thing." You've done what this country now needs and demands...It might be possible to recoup at the end of the process, approximately $80M, which is approximately half the amount received by Americans...

If a person returns the money, I don't believe there's a public interest in releasing their names.

Well that's a subtle brand of blackmail: return the money and nobody knows you were a greedy, selfish pig. Don't, and the nation will know exactly who you are. Bravo, Mr Cuomo.

FYI:What are the chances the top recipient is the one refusing to return the money?

• Top recipient received more than $6.4 million
• Top seven bonus recipients each received more than $4 million
• Top 10 bonus recipients received a combined $42 million
• 22 individuals received bonuses of $2 million or more, and combined, they received more than $72 million
• 73 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more
• 11 individuals who received $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million

Recall that these bonuses were pawned off as "retention bonuses" and yet 11 don't even work there anymore. How many of them are returning the money? Those names should be top of the list, whether they returned the money or not.

IMG is asking 1200 of its employess to return bonuses. How much of the bailout money went to bonuses? And how much did Geithner, hence barry, know about it beforehand?

Every single person who received a bonus derived from the bailout should have their name listed somewhere and then every single one of them should have a simple background check to see if they have paid their taxes prior to receiving it. If not - the money should be have to be immediately surrendered + fines.