More AIG Junkets

The company that is being bailed out to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars is STILL taking luxury junkets.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6223972&page=1

Reporters for abc15.com (KNXV) caught the AIG executives on hidden cameras poolside and leaving the spa at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, despite apparent efforts by the company to disguise its involvement.

"AIG made significant efforts to disguise the conference, making sure there were no AIG logos or signs anywhere on the property," KNXV reported.

A hotel employee told KNXV reporter Josh Bernstein, "We can't even say the word [AIG]."

A company spokesperson, Nick Ashooh, confirmed AIG instructed the hotel to make sure there were no AIG signs or mention of the company by staff.

"We're trying to avoid confrontation, keep our profile low," said Ashooh. "Some of our employees have been harassed."

"What do they have to hide," asked Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who said he had been promised by AIG CEO Edward Liddy that the company would stop such "junkets."

"They came to us and said they were drowning and needed help. A person who is drowning doesn't jump up and start partying," said Congressman Cummings.

Cummings said Liddy should resign as AIG CEO.

The AIG spokesman said Cummings "was mistaken" about the nature of the Phoenix event.

"It's terrible," said former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg. "I don't think the left hand knows what the right hand is doing there."

AIG came under fire last month when Congressional investigators revealed its executives attended a seminar for independent insurance agents at another luxury resort, in Southern California.

The AIG spokesman said the meeting in Phoenix was for independent financial advisors and "was the kind of thing we have to do to run our business."

Company officials confirmed the company spent an estimated $343,000 to sponsor the 2008 Asset Management Conference. A spokesperson said much of the cost would be recouped from product sponsors at the conference.

KNXV said the president of AIG unit Royal Alliance Associates, Art Tambaro, stayed in a two-story Casita suite and worked out at the spa while others participated in seminars.
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We are a nation of complete dopes and fools. Men who should be doing a perp walk stay in luxury villas, courtesy of debt that our grandchildren will be paying off.

 

Crooks who need to be thrown out of office and into jail.

 

The AIG tab is $150 Billion and counting....

 

Boom, boom, boom, boom. Instant termination. And no parachutes.

 

Prepare the Guillotine.

 

I love the smell of Starman Justice in the morning (okay, afternoon)! It smells like... freedom!

Seriously, I want charges filed. If dude told Congress (in open session) that junkets would stop, get chippy and charge with perjury. Then every other charge you can squeeze out of it, and give the fuckers maximum jail time. No soap on a rope allowed.

 

yer dreamin'

 

May I suggest?



With all due process and 6th amendment rights respected, of course.

 

Yeah, it's not like these are significant criminals who did great harm to the public like Barry Bonds.

 

AIG screwups really got paid well.

This 'retired' EVP was able to pay cash for his $3.45 million Central Park Apartment.

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/aig-exec-bales-3-45-m-cash-central-park-south-pad

Last week, eight days after the Federal Reserve agreed to an $85 billion bailout for the American International Group, and one day after the F.B.I. was first reported to be investigating its collapse, recently retired AIG executive vice president Robert M. Sandler bought a $3.45 million apartment at the Hampshire House on Central Park South.

He and his wife, Annette, paid in cash.

According to a Corcoran listing, their new three-bedroom, 2,045-square-foot apartment has a “top-of-the-line windowed kitchen with custom cabinetry”; a master bedroom suite with two walk-in closets; a steam shower and Jacuzzi; new herringbone floors; and a $4,333 monthly maintenance fee. (It’s the kind of home that might have been covered by the AIG Private Client Group: “The growth in wealth around the world has created exposures for high net worth individuals that extend beyond traditional insurance coverage,” Mr. Sandler said in 2000, when the group was launched.)

Media items announcing Mr. Sandler’s April retirement said he would remain at AIG throughout the year. But Mr. Sandler, whose roles at the company have included senior claims officer (a job that sounds like it could exist only in a Raymond Carver short story), could not be reached through the firm.

 

Sadly, I know.

 

I've asked my mom to please go slap these guys as they're lounging pool side. She lives at the Pointe.