Wednesday, March 25, 2009

NYT Op-Ed: 'Dear AIG, I quit!'

"An American International Group Inc. executive who received a bonus worth more than $742,000 after taxes has resigned publicly — in an Op-Ed column in The New York Times," the AP reports."

Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president at AIG's Financial Products division, said Wednesday he's leaving the company and will donate his entire bonus to charity," the Associated Press article continues. "The letter, addressed to AIG's CEO, Edward Liddy, criticized Liddy for, among other things, agreeing to the payments but then calling the bonuses 'distateful' as he testified before disapproving members of Congress."

US News notes the op-ed is both "a comprehensive rebuke of the AIG-admonishers in Congress and of Liddy himself," who, DeSantis claims, "was 'not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds,' and committed a "breach of trust" in allegedly asking for the bonus money to be returned only shortly before his Congressional appearance last week."

DeSantis tells Liddy, "You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it."

"But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses," DeSantis complains. "And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut."

The blog Jossip mocks, "Realizing that he could either keep the money and go down in history as one of America's greatest villains, or very publicly quit, DeSantis chose the latter."

FULL NYTIMES OP-ED AT THIS LINK

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