Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Breaking Etiquette

[DreamGypsy]

52. It may be that AIG Executives and members of the Board of Directors are named in the suit...

...I don't know. But the Government has deeper pockets and we all understand the basics of the American shyster...oops, I mean... legal system.

Here' some info on Hank (Maurice) Greenberg and AIG from Wikipedia that clarifies the situation a bit:

In 1962, Greenberg was named by AIG's founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, as the head of AIG's failing North American holdings. In 1968, Starr picked Greenberg as his successor. Greenberg held the position until 2005, when he stepped down amid a major leadership scandal and was replaced by Martin J. Sullivan. He was subsequently the subject of New York State civil charges which are still unresolved.[2]

In 2008, he appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" criticizing the board of directors.[3] In an interview with Reactions magazine in March 2010, serialized over three parts, Greenberg stated that he did not condone AIG's strategy of selling non-core assets to pay back the US government, and believed the terms under which AIG was provided access to bail-out funds needed to be renegotiated.[4]

More revealing, however is this article from ABC reference by Wikipedia - The Biggest Loser: Hank Greenberg from Sept 17, 2008 (emphasis mine)-

Everyone who owned shares in AIG took a hit Wednesday, following the announcement that the iconic insurance company was the latest casualty of the financial crisis -- but no one lost nearly as much as the firm's former CEO, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

In his 27 years as CEO of AIG, Greenberg was credited with vastly expanding the company, turning it into the world's largest insurance firm. Forced to relinquish the reins in 2005 amid a fraud investigation by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Greenberg went on to run two companies that remained highly invested in the American International Group (AIG).

In the matter of a weekend, however, Greenberg watched the company he built over a lifetime collapse and, with it, his personal fortune and greatest legacy.

His genius, said Ron Shelp, a former AIG executive and the author of "Fallen Giant," a book about Greenberg, was in putting the company into sectors other than insurance. In addition to being the world's largest insurer, it is also the world's largest lessor of airplanes. But that diversity would ultimately bring about the company's downfall. Though AIG's traditional insurance departments remain profitable, it was its London-based financial services group that threatened to destroy the firm. The group sold credit-default swaps, instruments that allowed investors to insure securities backed by the same bad mortgages responsible for the ongoing financial crisis.

Greenberg on Wednesday -- just hours after the federal government announced it would provide AIG an $85 billion loan secured by an 80 percent stake in the company in an effort to prevent its collapse -- appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to decry the actions of the current board and to admit that he had lost much of what he had built over the course of four decades.

"I've lost my entire net worth, literally my entire net worth," Greenberg said. "I worked 40 years building the greatest insurance company in history, one that everyone in the world envied – who was in this industry."

At least ...envied until it fell apart, Hank. Life is tough. Sorry. I understand your bitterness, but I have no sympathy with your tactics, of trying to get the American people to pay for the errors of corporate greed and misconduct, in order to restore your fortune. Sorry again.

Have a nice day Mr. Greenberg.