Kaymee

Kaymee · @Kaymee

10th Mar 2012 from Twitlonger

Dodd is a friend of his: "AIG Bonuses

It was revealed in March 2009 that American International Group (AIG), which had "received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve," planned to pay out $165 million in bonuses to the same executives who had in the prior year brought the company to the brink of collapse. [37] Three days after this revelation, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd (D) "confessed to adding language to a spending cap in the stimulus bill last month that specifically excluded executive bonuses included in contracts signed before the bill's passage," including those for executives of AIG. [38] Though he passed the blame on Obama administration officials, specifically Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, for pressuring him to insert the language into the bill in the first place, it was revealed that the previous year Dodd has received over $280,000 in political contributions from AIG employees, making the American insurance company the fourth largest contributor to his campaign. [39]

Blumenthal went after AIG, demanding the insurance company provide his office a list of bonus amounts and recipients, in addition to copies of contracts and other information related to their payment. The Connecticut Attorney General, however, did not file suit against Senator Chris Dodd, despite the fact that AIG Financial Products is based out of their home state of Connecticut. QUIZZED AS TO WHY HE WAS REFUSING TO GO AFTER SENATOR DODD FOR HIS ROLE IN THE AIG BONUS SCANDAL...Blumenthal replied that it was outside the realm of his authority as Connecticut Attorney General. When pressed to give an answer as to what specific law AIG executives had broken in receiving their bonuses, Blumenthal stammered and WAS UNABLE TO CITE THE EXACT STATUTE." All caps added for emphasis. Attny General unable to cite statute on a high profile case? LOL! http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Richard_Blumenthal#AIG_Bonuses

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