For at least two values of bully.
The chief executive officer of failed insurance conglomerate AIG told lawmakers Wednesday that he has asked executives to give back at least half of their bonuses. Edward Libby, chairman and CEO of the American International Group, said that some workers there already have volunteered to return the money. Liddy said given the national uproar, he has asked those who got "retention payments" of more than $100,000 return at least half of it. AIG paid $220 million in retention bonuses to employees in its troubled financial products division. The most recent payment of $165 million began to be paid last Friday and caused a furor. The retention payments -- ranging from $1,000 to nearly $6.5 million -- were put together in early 2008, long before then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked Liddy to take over the company.
Testifying under oath at a congressional hearing, Liddy acknowledged that the company's multimillion-dollar bonuses were "distasteful" to many and had provoked a firestorm of wrath. Liddy was named six months ago to take over the company as part of the government rescue. Liddy, a former Allstate chief executive, is not getting a bonus and is only drawing $1 a year in salary. Some $170 billion in tax money has now been pledged to AIG. |