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AIG stars to hand back $50m bonuses
24 Mar 2009
Top executives at American International Group, the bailed-out insurer, have agreed to return about $50 million (£34 million) of bonuses paid last year.
New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said 15 of the top 20 earners at the company had agreed to return bonuses awarded last month following the US government's $170 billion rescue of the business.
Congress passed a Bill last week to tax certain AIG employees at a punitive rate of 90% in an attempt to claw back the bonuses. But President Obama signalled that he opposed the Bill on constitutional grounds.
Cuomo said: "I applaud the employees who are returning bonuses."
He hoped others would come forward, which could boost the total repaid to about $80 million of the total $165 million bonus pool. About half was paid to non-American employees.
AIG's Financial Products division, which had a big operation in Mayfair, helped clients including Bank of Ireland, Credit Agricole and Bank of America to avoid taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
