Was the AIG Bailout a Gift to Goldman Sachs?

It's no secret that many of the top officials at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department (including former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Treasury Interim Assistant Secretary Neil Kashkari, Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson, New York Fed President William Dudley, and New York Fed Chair Stephen Friedman) were once executives, directors, or lobbyists for Goldman Sachs. But have these officials been exploiting the bailout of AIG to steer billions of taxpayer dollars to their former employer, one of AIG's most prominent counterparties?

That's the question POGO raised in a letter we sent yesterday to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. We're concerned that the government's unprecedented effort to rescue AIG has been marred by a lack of disclosure and a troubling appearance of favoritism toward Goldman Sachs.

For months now, the press has been revealing that billions of taxpayer dollars passed through AIG and ended up in the hands of Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions that had purchased credit-default swaps from the insurance company. Just this week, The Wall Street Journal and Fortune obtained partial lists of AIG's counterparties, both of which suggest that Goldman Sachs has benefited enormously from the government's exceptional assistance.

In recent weeks, both Bernanke and Geithner have faced direct questions about AIG's counterparties from members of Congress such as Representatives Mike Castle (R-DE), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). But even Congress hasn't been able to get answers to the most basic questions about the AIG bailout. The Fed and Treasury often claim that disclosing more information would dissuade people from doing business with AIG and its counterparties, and would do great harm to the financial system as a whole. (The Fed has used a similar argument in refusing to comply with a FOIA request and lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News to get more details on the terms and recipients of some $1.9 trillion in emergency loans).

POGO would argue that it's the government's stubborn refusal to disclose this information that is eroding public confidence. Both Bernanke and Geithner have pledged to Congress that they will make their agencies more transparent, but actions speak louder than words. The secrecy surrounding the AIG bailout has only fueled suspicions of favoritism, and has made the public more distrustful of the government's actions, thereby undermining one of the most important goals of the bailout.

The best way to restore public confidence is by sharing more information on what the government is doing to stabilize the nation's financial system. We call on Bernanke and Geithner to identify all of AIG's counterparties and to disclose how much taxpayer assistance these companies have received.

-- Michael Smallberg

Comments

[dman]

C Could the whole fiasco have been a set up? AIG sells derivatives at below true value to Goldman and other banks then goes belly up and forces the government to cover all the derivatives at face value.

[Eleanor Bianchi]

Let us also remember that Goldman Sachs is a member of the Federal Reserve which is a private entity -- as is Goldman Sachs. Why are the taxpayers responsible for their excessive risk. They should be allowed the freedom to fail. Even now Goldman is still trading on its own equity account--on the taxpayer dime--risky behavior.

[Pro Se]

The outrage over AIG using less than 0.1% of the $173 billion stolen (so far) to pay employee “bonuses” [sic hush money] is silly. The Department of Justice ("DoJ") should prosecute and send the guilty parties to jail. Here is a prescription for recovering the $173 billion that AIG has stolen from the federal government thus far.

(1) The DoJ should file suit in a U.S. District Court for civil conspiracy, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against AIG and AIG’s directors. The DoJ can prosecute these defendants under the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729–3733), the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968), and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1).

(2) The DoJ should add as co-defendants any counterparties to AIG’s fraudulent derivative contracts (credit default swaps, etc.) who were unjustly enriched by being paid-off using any portion of the $173 billion that AIG extorted and defraud from the federal government.

(3) DoJ should file a motion in the case seeking the imposition of a constructive trust, in equity, over the federal government’s money, and/or any assets into which the counterparties converted the federal government’s money.

(4) The DoJ should allow a jury of intellectually honest citizens determine if AIG and AIG’s directors are liable for claims against them; and if they are, the amount of money that each party unjustly enriched by AIG’s extortion and fraud scam should return to the federal government.

(5) The DoJ should take on all appeals through to the Supreme Court so that the consequences of violating the laws that AIG has violated will set precedent for prosecuting others who choose to follow AIG's path.

See http://texasbarwatch.blogspot.com/ for information on how the U.S. Congress has facilitated AIG's theft and failed to prosecute the company or its directors for these crimes. Also, http://TexasBarWatch.US/ and http://Iran-Conoco-Affair.US/.

See http://www.delawarelitigation.com/2009/02/articles/chancery-court-updates/chancery-court-allows-claims-to-proceed-against-greenberg-other-aig-directors/ for information on how AIG shareholders (read: lawyers fronting for AIG shareholders) are attempting to unjustly enrich themselves on U.S. taxpayer money being used to defend AIG's corrupt directors.

[Frank Hope]

You rightly point out all the top officials with ties to the Goldman Sachs cabal. What you fail to mention is that AIG CEO Liddy who was appointed by Paulson came directly from the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs! OMG! This goes well beyond cronyism. Why isn't anyone highlighting this as it becomes abundantly clear that AIG was just being used as a vehicle to surreptitiously funnel money to GS? GS got 100% of its money back from AIG. This would never have happened if AIG would have been allowed to go bankrupt. We also wouldn't have to pay out bonuses with taxpayer money if the bankruptcy courts were in charge.

And BTW Geithner is tightly linked to GS because he was the Fed president under Friedman who still is the NY Fed chairman while also sitting on the GS Board. Geithner is also considered to be a protege of ex-GS CEO Rubin. That explains a lot about how he was selected to be the replacement Treas-Sec for Paulson. And in case there is still any doubt, consider that Geithner came under considerable criticism when he appointed as his Chief of Staff an ex-lobbyist for GS.

[Richard J Lewis]

What was the extent of former Treasury Secretary Paulson's stock holdings in Goldman Sachs at the time of his first bailout. Mr. Kashkari's investment in G-S stood to benefit as well, it would seem...

OMG, they found the rosetta stone to the scandal--GS, hiding in plain sight. If you could just fold in a few sprinkles of a leading private equity firm, a top commercial bank, some truly (criminally?>) negligent and blind and deaf regulators (Fed,OTS,CC) and overseers in Congress and Treasury, you have something better than Gone With the Wind, or U-571, or the movie version of None Dare Call It Treason.

[Frank Hope]

I've been writing about Goldman Sachs for sometime now. I've been asking the same questions you have - has the bailout been a gift to Goldman Sachs? I'm not quite as polite as you are. I look at the transfer of money from AIG to Goldman Sachs as a money laundering operation. I view this as a case of government corruption, not just incompetence. Hopefully organizations such as yours can force Congress into action. Of course Congress is complicit in this economic mess so it won't be easy to get them to take action.

Thanks for your efforts. Today we saw the revelation of AIGs fund transfers. I don't know if this was a direct result of your efforts, but clearly your organization is on the side of the American people.

[Keith]

Its a huge huge scandal AIG couterpartis know CDS contract involve counterparty risk. So the don't desrve to be bailed out by the US taxpayer when the counterparty goes under. That is another $12 billion going from the US taxpayer to overpaid and irresponsible and incompetent Goldman Sachs employees. When is FBI going to start to investigate this criminal activity.

[Cynical Synapse]

The whole thing has been suspicious since the very beginning. It was questionable to have former Goldman Sachs CEO Paulson as Treasury Secretary handing out the bailout money. It's no better to have tax cheat and former NY Fed President Geitner now in that seat.

As far as I'm concerned, AIG’s all just the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme! Of course there’s no transparency. The people who claim to be fixing it were all in positions to have had something to do (or look the other way) with the making of the Wall Street debacle.

I was opposed to the bailout from the very start. While I knew there would be consequences with AIG’s failure, I figured at least the executives would have to take their lumps, too. And I figured my share would be less. Instead, we’re all paying and the executives are pocketing it. With no end in sight.