Orange County Register

Can American International Group ever hope to repay Uncle Sam that $150 billion if it keeps casting its pearls before swine?

Many naysayers fear taxpayers will never see that money again - and one might add former AIG executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg to the list. In a cranky letter to AIG’s board of directors - which he copied to the Securities and Exchange Commission - Greenberg complains that the recent sale of a profitable AIG subsidiary at pond scum prices dooms the insurance empire he so painstakingly helped build.

“The press has reported, and AIG management has confirmed, that AIG intends to sell HSB to Munich Re for approximately $742 million,” Greenberg writes. “This can only be viewed as a distressed sale price. Indeed, Joerg Schneider, the Chief Financial Officer of Munich Re, has been quoted as stating: ‘The sales price is, considering the profitability of the acquired company, very low.’”

And here’s the kicker for you and me, who now own 80 percent of AIG: “Certainly, selling major assets at fire sale prices is not a viable strategy for reviving the company or even repaying the government.”

So, $742 million down; $149.3 billion or so to go. Not that we’re counting or anything.

More Watchdog:

• AIG burns through bulk of bailout billions
• AIG to OC workers: Thanks for the bailout, happy holidays, you’re fired
• OC Watchdog contest: Guess what this AIG junket cost!
• AIG junket - the movie! Bailed-out execs luxuriate on tape
• AIG subsidiary parties in style in OC, two weeks after bailout
• Yet another AIG subsidiary parties hearty days after bailout
• High-flying AIG subsidiary gets to play with Uncle Sam’s dough, too
• Truth or dare? AIG ordered to bare all its secrets
• Should feds have let AIG go bankrupt?
• Bailed-out banks ordered to reveal executive compensation
• Oops. That $123 billion may not be enough, AIG says
• AIG suspends controversial executive payouts worth millions
• Invisible sponsor of OC wine event: AIG
• AIG calls off lobbyists, cancels events totalling $80 million
• AIG’s “outrageous expenditures” cause more trouble
• AIG’s St. Regis blowout bill: $443,344
• Saturday Night Live skewers AIG excesses
• Obama on AIG’s $400,000 party: ‘Fire the scoundrels!’
• Cartoon zinger lampoons AIG bailout
• Prez didn’t push for bailout so execs could get facials

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.