• Home
  • Blogs
  • Econwatch
Econwatch
March 23, 2009 6:05 PM

Top AIG Bonus Receivers Returning The Cash

Posted by Stephen W Smith
Nine of the top 10 recipients of AIG bonuses have agreed to return the money in full, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In a conference call with reporters late Monday, Cuomo said that so far approximately $50 million has been retuned.

Cuomo said that his office has been working with AIG to asses the status of the $165 million in bonuses paid on March 15 – roughly half of which went to U.S. citizens. He said of the top 20 recipients, 15 had agreed to return the money.

The attorney general said he hopes to recoup $80 million back from Americans who received bonuses, but for people out of the country, which Cuomo has no jurisdiction over, there is no word yet on how much of that money will be returned.

Citing a "new era of corporate and individual responsibility," Cuomo said that the individuals who have agreed to return the bonuses have done the "right thing."

"It's what our country needs and demands," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said he had no interest in releasing the names of individuals who returned the money.

Tags:
cuomo ,
aig
Topics:
AIG
Share:
  • Share
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Mixx

More from Econwatch and Business on CBSNews.com

Add a Comment See all 18 Comments
by msay3 March 24, 2009 8:15 AM EDT
The first 4 years of President Obama's deficit is their fault, it's the mess they made that real American patriots will now have to clean up.

It's always thus, after the Repugs have the Hill and the House. Posted by bobbyduck1 at 8:43 PM : Mar 23, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The House and Congress gained control in 2007, headed by Nancy Pelosi.....They had two years to screw things up before Obama took office.....
Reply to this comment
by msay3 March 24, 2009 7:50 AM EDT
Geithner didn't want legal contractual issues when he urged congress to insert a loop hole in the financial bail-out bill......What about the AIG execs who took the "retention" bonuses and then turned around and QUIT!? Seems to me that they could be sued for breech of contract and be made to return their bonuses....
Reply to this comment
by grabandgo March 24, 2009 6:41 AM EDT
We need to get rid of Democrats and Republicans.
Time to put Americans for America in Washington.
Reply to this comment
by chuckieinlove March 24, 2009 2:59 AM EDT
The AIG bonus 'issue' is a smokescreen. What about bonuses given to partners and execs of Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley et al? The bailed out banks gave out billion$ in 2008 bonuses. Some AIG execs give back their bonuses, and the word will be "see, they gave it back, it's all fixed." Not so fast.
Reply to this comment
by bobbyduck1 March 23, 2009 11:43 PM EDT
What do you think your money is worth right now? It's about 30 cents on a dollar. Thanks democrats.
Posted by govwatch2 at 8:20 PM : Mar 23, 2009

Thank Bushie and company. They deregulated like mad men and now we are paying for the checks they bounced. And it's a long way from over. The first 4 years of President Obama's deficit is their fault, it's the mess they made that real American patriots will now have to clean up.

It's always thus, after the Repugs have the Hill and the House. Great Depression, McCarthy-ism, now this, Thanks Repugs!
Reply to this comment
by perk235 March 23, 2009 11:29 PM EDT
Why are we bailing out other countries. Only half of the people who got the bonuses are Americans. Good luck on getting back the out of country money.
Posted by kiawest at 3:42 PM : Mar 23, 2009
---------------------------------
The over $1 TRILLION of OUR MONEY that the Federal Reserve, just last week, is giving to financial institutions, would pay ALL FORECLOSED HOMES FROM 2007 to 2008.

If the wealth elite were interestsed in helping average Americans, they would. Instead they are spending OUR MONEY on their buddies' private businesses.
Reply to this comment
by govwatch2 March 23, 2009 11:20 PM EDT
They are idiots. That money legally belongs to them. This whole mess is congresses way of diverting attention away from the real problem, their spending. Did you know that the total bonuses are no more than 0.01% of what congress spent on pork, and less than 0.1% of what congress gave AIG?

What do you think your money is worth right now? It's about 30 cents on a dollar. Thanks democrats.
Reply to this comment
by frankly6 March 23, 2009 10:59 PM EDT
This kind of thing really upsets Rushpublicans who want Obama and the country to fail.
Reply to this comment
by perk235 March 23, 2009 10:57 PM EDT
What people don't seem to understand is that we are covering the DEBTS that these banks owe, part of which are foreign debts.
Posted by democracy1 at 6:55 PM : Mar 23, 2009
--------------------------------------
Agreed. The first bailout had provisions to be able to give money to foreign entities. I assume the second one did too.

And the over $4 TRILLION of OUR MONEY that the Federal Reserve is handing out will assuredly to pay debts to domestic and foreign people and entities. However, no-one really know what the Federal Reserve does with OUR MONEY. They are a private corporation, and their books are closed.
Reply to this comment
by BC Kelly March 23, 2009 10:54 PM EDT
Ok, quick survey ....


Which Corporate Executive rates highest in most polls ?

Most Admired, Most Innovative, Most Creative

About any "most" you can come up with

And a damn fine example of what USA needs more of



Steve Jobs of Apple




Oh yea

And his salary is $1.00 a year
Reply to this comment
by realityzone March 23, 2009 10:38 PM EDT
At least some of the AIG Execs knew deep down what was the right thing to do. Cudos to them for having the morals and ethics to do this. - debinok1

They don't deserve any form of kudos, they're greedy corporate scum and should repay every cent of bonus money; not just "some" of it.
Reply to this comment
by Patrick_Henry March 23, 2009 10:33 PM EDT
I think tar and feathers should be payment enough for Congress and much worse for the predators of Financial System. What kind of screwed up thinking is it when you want to pay the crooks not to flush you down a toilet. They wouldn't even still have jobs much less bonuses. Do you really believe that someone is working for a dollar a year?
I sure don't. It isn't in their sick genetic makeup.
Reply to this comment
by Patrick_Henry March 23, 2009 10:21 PM EDT
These people are just plain crazy or they don't believe the American people when we say we want their money back.
They just don't get it.
They own all of the calculators but we own all of the guns.
Guns trump calculators all day long..
Reply to this comment
by democracy1 March 23, 2009 9:55 PM EDT
Why are we bailing out other countries. Only half of the people who got the bonuses are Americans. Good luck on getting back the out of country money. I thought the key to helping the economy was to get money in Americans pockets and bailout the banks so they could loan money to Americans . It is so obvious no one knew what they were signing. Thank you AIG Americans for returning the bonuses; although it was the right thing to do, legally you did not have to do so, Thanks!
Posted by kiawest at 3:42 PM : Mar 23, 2009

What people don't seem to understand is that we are covering the DEBTS that these banks owe, part of which are foreign debts. The entire world economy is interrelated. If these banks can't pay off their debts, foreign or domestic, it will hurt their ability to borrow and/or do business in the future, which will hurt their ability to lend to Americans in the future.

To oversimplify by saying that banks shouldn't honor their foreign debts is an argument made out of ignorance and is nothing more than a "red herring".

It is an unfortunate yat real truth that is a consequence of the fact that the global economy is interrelated. I'm sure that China is not entirely thrilled about the state of our economy at this point, considering how many trillions we owe them, but they are still betting on a positive American economy.
Reply to this comment
by cosmotopper777 March 23, 2009 8:05 PM EDT
On a day when I have (with regret) concluded that our new President cannot be counted on to defend the good credit of this nation, I was deeply gratified to hear of the success of Mr. Cuomo's office on behalf of all Americans. To allow any private enterprise to become "Too Big To Fail", is a breach of the Constitution, and a threat to the vital security interests of this nation. As such, the President should be acting to dismantle these entities by whatever means necessary as quickly as possible. Furthermore, actions taken by individuals who are in authority at such an entity who's purpose is to exploit that standing for personal gain, should be treated as criminals engaged in acts of treason.
Reply to this comment
by labrat9999 March 23, 2009 7:27 PM EDT
kiawest..obviously you don't work in a large corporation...because most of us that do, work on a global level these days!! Which means, yes, corporations our global and employees are all around the whole-wide world. Welcome to the new Global Economy.
Reply to this comment
by debinok1 March 23, 2009 7:14 PM EDT
At least some of the AIG Execs knew deep down what was the right thing to do. Cudos to them for having the morals and ethics to do this.
Reply to this comment
by kiawest March 23, 2009 6:42 PM EDT
Why are we bailing out other countries. Only half of the people who got the bonuses are Americans. Good luck on getting back the out of country money. I thought the key to helping the economy was to get money in Americans pockets and bailout the banks so they could loan money to Americans . It is so obvious no one knew what they were signing. Thank you AIG Americans for returning the bonuses; although it was the right thing to do, legally you did not have to do so, Thanks!
Reply to this comment
See all 18 Comments

About Econwatch

News and analysis on the state of the economy from CBS News.

E-Mail EconWatch

Add to your favorite news reader
google
yahoo
msn