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AIG Business Model
1) Decide Credit Default Swaps are a good idea
2) Insure garbage mortgage assets
3) Get bailout from taxpayers to save your company
4) Sue taxpayers for giving you bailout
5) ??????
6) PROFIT!
1) Decide Credit Default Swaps are a good idea
2) Insure garbage mortgage assets
3) Get bailout from taxpayers to save your company
4) Sue taxpayers for giving you bailout
5) ??????
6) PROFIT!
Ex-American International Group CEO Hank Greenberg is striking back at the U.S. government for bailing out his former employer.
Greenberg filed a lawsuit against the U.S. in court Monday, claiming the government's $182 billion bailout of the insurance giant during the 2008 financial crisis was unconstitutional, Reuters reports.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks at least $25 billion for Greenberg's new venture Starr International Co and other shareholders, the bailout, which gave the government a nearly 80 percent stake in the company, violated the fifth amendment because it took property from shareholders without just compensation.
The government bailed out AIG in 2008, becoming its majority in owner, after its potential bankruptcy threatened to bring the financial system to collapse. The insurance giant has paid back $11.4 billion to the government as of August.
Still, the bailout made the company one of the most public faces of the financial crisis, creating a public relations disaster for the company that likely won't go away anytime soon. AIG has the worst corporate reputation of any company, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, surpassing Goldman Sachs and BP to get the top spot. The insurance giant was also slammed for paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses in 2009 and 2010.
Greenberg filed a lawsuit against the U.S. in court Monday, claiming the government's $182 billion bailout of the insurance giant during the 2008 financial crisis was unconstitutional, Reuters reports.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks at least $25 billion for Greenberg's new venture Starr International Co and other shareholders, the bailout, which gave the government a nearly 80 percent stake in the company, violated the fifth amendment because it took property from shareholders without just compensation.
The government bailed out AIG in 2008, becoming its majority in owner, after its potential bankruptcy threatened to bring the financial system to collapse. The insurance giant has paid back $11.4 billion to the government as of August.
Still, the bailout made the company one of the most public faces of the financial crisis, creating a public relations disaster for the company that likely won't go away anytime soon. AIG has the worst corporate reputation of any company, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, surpassing Goldman Sachs and BP to get the top spot. The insurance giant was also slammed for paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses in 2009 and 2010.
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