Former AIG chief sues U.S. for $25 billion

[texastoast]

Former AIG chief sues U.S. for $25 billion
(and we wonder why we have an Occupy movement)

By Martha C. White



Former American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg thinks he got a raw deal, and he wants the government to pay up. Greenberg filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims asserting that the government bailout and takeover of the insurance giant was an unconstitutional seizure of private property, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Greenberg's Starr International Co., which used to be AIG's biggest stakeholder, is seeking $25 billion in damages, based on the value of the 80 percent stake in AIG the government took after providing it with an $182 billion bailout.

Those funds allowed AIG to pay off counterparties like Goldman Sachs in full and reward executives with $165 million in bonuses in 2008, even though AIG lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of that year. This situation raised considerable ire among both the public and investors. AIG's own value plummeted and it was reduced to selling off assets to pay back the government, both moves of which hurt Greenberg's stake in the firm.

An AIG representative declined to comment on the suit via email; the Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Full article at link

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8930761-former-aig-chief-sues-us-for-25-billion

[xchrom]

1. he can suck ass. nt

[banned from Kos]

2. Greenberg didn't offer to pony up 80% of the $182 billion bailout, did he?

Now he wants in on the upside.

This asshole would have gotten nothing in 2008 if the government had let AIG fail.

[gratuitous]

3. How DARE you expect AIG to pay its bills?

Old "Hank" didn't get wealthy writing checks to his creditors, and when that awful, awful, awful federal government insisted on it, Hank was reduced to penury!

Why do I get the feeling his suit will be successful, if only for nuisance value?

[suffragette]

4. Hubris in action