Senate chair gets mad over AIG retreat
Baucus 'outraged' over $442,000 trip for firm's insurance agents
By Sam Mamudi, MarketWatch
Last update: 3:13 p.m. EDT Oct. 9, 2008Comments: 12NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate's Finance Committee, expressed his anger Thursday over a lavish trip taken by insurance agents at American Insurance Group Inc. just days after the government stepped in to save AIG from bankruptcy.
Baucus sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke demanding to know what powers the Fed has to fire AIG (AIG:American International Group, Inc
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Baucus also asked Bernanke for names of Fed employees who authorized or knew about the retreat, and what the Fed is doing to recoup any unauthorized expenditures.
"I want to know who we can fire and how we can get this misspent money back, and I want both of those things to happen pronto," said Baucus.
The trip, to the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, CA., reportedly saw $150,000 spent on food, $23,000 in spa charges and $7,000 for golf.
AIG, it seems, remains unrepentant. The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that company still plans to hold a three-day event at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Half Moon Bay, CA., next week that will see 50 AIG employees in attendance. An AIG spokesman told the LA Times that the event is an annual affair. "It's a key meeting," he said.
AIG was threatened with bankruptcy before the government stepped in on September 17 with an $85 billion loan facility in exchange for a 79% stake in the company. The Fed has loaned AIG an additional $38 billion this week.
The LA Times also reported Thursday that Wachovia Corp. (WB:Wachovia Corp
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WB 3.76, -1.30, -25.7%) is on Saturday sending up to 75 of its top brokers, along with spouses and significant others, on an all-expenses-paid cruise of the Greek Isles.
Struggling Wachovia is currently in the middle of a dispute between Wells Fargo Co. (WFC:Wells Fargo & Company
