TPM:
Elijah Cummings has driven a lot of news about the AIG bonus scandal, but he's got tentacles deep in other controversial aspects of the $180 billion bailout. He's currently circulating (and I have obtained) a letter to colleagues, seeking their support for a TARP inspector general investigation into every aspect of the payments AIG made, with government money, to counterparties whose risky investments it had insured.
Goldman Sachs claimed in September that they had no material exposure to AIG; however, after AIG released the counterparty information on March 15, we found out that Goldman Sachs received almost $13 billion in counterparty payments. The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program was created to ensure that transparency and accountability stay firmly rooted in the government's efforts to revive and sustain the American economy. This letter proposes that the Special Inspector General examine the nature of the counterparty payments - including the recipients, the process by which they were made whole, and the justification, if any, for that level of payment.
He's asking members of Congress to cosign a letter to the inspector general asking him to conduct a thorough inquiry. We've been all over the counterparties controversy and we'll follow this campaign as far as it goes.
Full text of the letter below the fold.
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