Posts Tagged ‘AIG’

March18

Meet Steve Harris

By: Bartlett Naylor

Months before the failure of Lehman Brothers, which collapsed when the markets learned its mortgage-related securities were breathlessly overvalued, Ernst & Young awarded Lehman an unqualified opinion for its accounts.

Months before the government bailed out AIG because of massive exposure to bad bets in exotic derivatives, PricewaterhouseCoopers assured investors that AIG’s books were completely solid.

Months before the bankruptcy of Washington Mutual, Deloitte assured investors the balance sheet suffered no blemishes.

These auditors clearly betrayed the investor confidence they were hired to foster.

Much must be reformed in this arena, and many responsible, informed and well positioned people intend to do so.

Steve Harris hopes to translate these good intentions into tangible reform. Harris serves as member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. On March 16, he convened a meeting of the PCAOB advisory group to plot reform. These minds included SEC Chair Mary Shaprio;  Brandon Becker of TIAA-CREF, former market regulation chief of the SEC; Lynn Turner, former chief accountant of the SEC; Judge Stanley Sporkin, former SEC commissioner; Ann Simpson, investment officer of CalPERS; Ann Yeager, director of the Council of Institutional Investors; Damon Silvers of the AFL-CIO;  and many others.

Harris himself brings stellar if unsung credentials. He directed the staff of the Senate Banking Committee under chairmen Sarbanes and Riegle. The strength of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in correcting the ills exposed by the Enron scandal owes much to Harris’ steady political and policy hand.

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Posted in: Financial Reform, Uncategorized0 comments

September14

Chamber of Commerce Accused of Tax Fraud

By: Alex Chasick

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the anti-regulation mega lobby that plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to support corporate candidates in the coming election, has been accused of tax fraud, according to a complaint filed with the IRS on Friday.

The complaint alleges that the Chamber abused the tax-exempt status of its 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the National Chamber Foundation (NCF), by directing NCF funds to the Chamber for prohibited political activities. Further, the complaint alleges, the NCF money was originally a donation from the Starr Foundation, another 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity led by the former chair of A.I.G., Maurice Greenberg. The complaint charges that the A.I.G.-affiliated Starr Foundation donated $18 million to the NCF, which was then “loaned” to the Chamber for non-charitable purposes, such as training staff and lobbying for legislation that would benefit A.I.G.

The complaint was filed by U.S. Chamber Watch, whose mission is to “promote greater transparency and accountability in American political processes by shedding light on the funding and practices of the largest special interest lobbyist in America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.” The complaint requests that the IRS assess the proper taxes on NCF and the Starr Foundation for the $18 million in expenditures, and revoke the NCF’s tax-exempt status. You can view U.S. Chamber Watch’s complaint here.

Posted in: Campaign Finance, Consumer Protection, Ethics, Open Government0 comments

February3

AIG: back at the trough

By:

Weissman

They’re back at the trough. The folks at AIG don’t get it. Do they expect to be congratulated for taking $100 million in bonus payments instead of $110 million or $120 million? Payment of the bonuses is justified as contractually required but the government-owned AIG can honor such contractual terms only because the firm was rescued with $180 billion in taxpayer supports.

This latest outrage comes on top of reports that emerged in recent months that AIG employees en masse reneged on promises made last year to return bonus payments.

The refrain that bonus payments must be made to retain “talent” doesn’t even qualify as a cruel joke. This is the so-called talent that presided over the collapse of AIG and cost taxpayers countless billions.

Congress is not helpless on this issue, and has no excuse for failing to take action. When the AIG bonus scandal broke, there was serious talk of imposing a 90 percent tax on the bonus payments. Once fooled, it is time for Congress to return to this remedy.

AIG, of course, is only the most egregious example of bonus abuse. It is time for Congress to adopt an across-the-board windfall bonus tax on Wall Street and the financial sector. The place to start is by taking up the Responsible Banking Act, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen.

Posted in: Congress0 comments

March17

Tell AIG what you think!

By:

When news broke that insurance giant AIG planned to dole out more than $165million in bonuses to company executives, Public Citizen was outraged.

We immediately got to work determining how to respond. We developed a plan – and we need you to take action today.

Tomorrow, AIG CEO, Edward M. Liddy, will testify before a House subcommittee examining how AIG got into its current economic mess and why it needs so much taxpayer bailout money.

It’s time to put an end to this era of irresponsible behavior and wasteful spending. The fact that companies like AIG are taking taxpayer money – YOUR money – while handing out millions of dollars in bonuses to people who oversaw the company’s downfall is an outrage.

Posted in: Activism, Congress4 comments

October22

What would you do with $534,000?

By:

America’s taxpayers – including you – deserve a refund.

Our country is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. AIG, an insurance giant, recently received $123 billion of taxpayers’ money to rescue it from bankruptcy. But even though AIG executives knew their company was in danger of going broke, they continued the party, leaving taxpayers to deal with the hangover.

This is despicable! Just days after the government announced an $85 billion loan to the company in September, AIG decided to pay for a $444,000 week-long retreat at a posh California resort for its top-performing insurance agents.

Plus, earlier this month, as AIG asked for an additional $38 billion loan, its executives traveled by private jet to go partridge hunting in England, which cost $90,000. Last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatened legal action if this wasteful spending continued.

We cannot allow AIG to get away with this.

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Posted in: Congress, Uncategorized2 comments

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