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Cummings: ‘Something Is Terribly Wrong With This Picture’
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Washington, D.C.—Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and member of the Joint Economic Committee, released the following statement in response to renewed reports about AIG’s decision to move forward with the payment of an installment of its $400 million retention payment plan to the Financial Products (FP) unit:
“For months, I have been calling on Edward Liddy to step down from his position leading AIG, and I loudly and clearly renew that call today. Mr. Liddy has repeatedly taken billions of hard-earned tax dollars from the American people—many of whom have lost their homes, their savings, and their jobs—and then slapped those people in the face with that very money. Mr. Liddy continues to display reckless and irresponsible behavior at the helm of this company, and we simply cannot afford to accept it any longer.
“AIG has been trying to play the American people for fools by giving nearly $1 billion in bonuses by the name of ‘retention payments,’—including to employees at the FP unit whose reckless behavior drove the company into the ground. Any credibility that could have been given to Mr. Liddy’s argument that these payments are necessary to retain top talent was completely destroyed in last month’s 10-K filing when AIG itself disclosed that nearly $60 million of those retention payments are going to employees who will be terminated.
“These payments are nothing but a reward for obvious failure, and it is an egregious offense to have the American taxpayers foot the bill. Something is terribly wrong with this picture, and the reckless behavior at AIG must stop immediately.”
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