The money pit ...
Even as the company was pleading the federal government for another $40 billion dollars in loans, AIG sent top executives to a secret gathering at a luxury resort in Phoenix last week.
Brian Ross investigates the insurance giant's "seminar" at a posh resort.
Reporters for abc15.com (KNXV) caught the AIG executives on hidden cameras poolside and leaving the spa at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, despite apparent efforts by the company to disguise its involvement.
"AIG made significant efforts to disguise the conference, making sure there were no AIG logos or signs anywhere on the property," KNXV reported.
A hotel employee told KNXV reporter Josh Bernstein, "We can't even say the word [AIG]."
A company spokesperson, Nick Ashooh, confirmed AIG instructed the hotel to make sure there were no AIG signs or mention of the company by staff.
"We're trying to avoid confrontation, keep our profile low," said Ashooh. "Some of our employees have been harassed."
ABCNews | Another AIG Resort "Junket": Top Execs Caught on Tape
The above records this past weekend. A bit of background...
AIG has been in the hot seat since a few days after the federal government committed $85 billion to bailout the company, when it was revealed that the company spent $440,000 for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa.
Still battered by that outrage, AIG later called off plans to hold a second retreat at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton Resort in Half Moon Bay, California. It was reported today in the "New York Daily News" that AIG executives spent $86,000 on a partridge hunt in the English countryside the same week that AIG got a second bailout loan of $37.5 billion.
Cuomo's office sent a cease and desist letter to AIG, ordering them not to use taxpayer funds to take any more trips.
ABCNews | 'The Party's Over' for AIG Says Cuomo
"Fuck Cuomo," say the fat cats at AIG.
American International Group Inc.'s losses from the collapsing mortgage market account for almost half the $123.6 billion inflicted on North American insurers, helping push the tally for the world's biggest financial firms toward the trillion-dollar mark.
AIG, which posted a record third-quarter loss yesterday, accounts for $60.9 billion of the writedowns and credit losses. Bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. is second among the insurers with $10.6 billion, and life insurer MetLife Inc. is third at $7.2 billion. The industry losses are three times as costly as Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Bloomberg | AIG's Losses Lead Insurers as Tally Nears $1 Trillion
What does Paulson do for his buddies? He gives them a further $27 billion. Go figure ... you Americans are crazy.
