AIG CEO comes under fire after remark
September 27, 2013 by Arthur D. Postal
American International Group (AIG) president and CEO Robert Benmosche is under heavy fire from a senior Maryland Democratic congressman because he compared the intense criticism of bonus payments made in 2009 to AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) executives to the lynching of blacks during the civil rights battles of several decades ago.
Benmosche issued a summary apology this afternoon. “It was a poor choice of words. I never meant to offend anyone by it,” Benmosche said through a spokesman in response to a call for his resignation by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
In an interview last Tuesday with the Wall Street Journal dealing with the five-year anniversary of the government bailout of AIG, Benmosche strongly criticized the intense public response to the disclosure that the government had approved the payout of $165 million in contractual retention payments to AIGFP officials. Click here to read…
