Connecticut says AIG bonuses were even higher

As Congress races to pass tax
measures to recoup the bonus payments at insurance firm AIG, 21 state attorneys
general are zeroing in on the firm and are breaking news faster than Congress.

On Saturday, according to the AP, Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal said AIG paid out $218 million in bonus payments. That is $53
million more than the previously reported $165 million sum that first provoked
a public outcry last weekend. Blumenthal had issued a subpoeana to AIG for the
information.

{mosads}Last week, House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
requested a list of the names from AIG head Edward Liddy and said he would call
the committee to issue a subpoena for the names if they weren’t provided. Frank
has not said yet that he has received a list of the names.

Bonuses were “showered like confetti” on employees of AIG’s
financial products division, Blumenthal told the AP on Saturday, and 73
employees of the division received a bonus of at least $1 million. Five
employees each received more than $4 million.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who had issued a subpoena for the
names of the AIG employees, said last week that he had received a list of the
employees and is now weighing whether to release the names. “We are aware
of the security concerns,” Cuomo said.

Both developments will keep the bonus issue alive well into next week, just as
President Obama and his economic team try to sway Congress to sell his broader
economic agenda.

Connecticut lawmakers and Blumenthal also issued a subpoena for Liddy and 11
employees of the financial products division, based in Connecticut, to appear
at a hearing on Thursday.

Other states looking into the AIG bonus situation include Arizona, Delaware,
Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska,
New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and West
Virginia, according to a release put out by the New Jersey Attorney General’s
office, which is also investigating the firm.