Wall Street duo join forces to take on Spitzer

[lovuian]

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article334117.ece

A backlash against Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, is growing on Wall Street with two billionaire businessmen who have fallen foul of the combative government lawyer planning to team up to fight litigation he has brought against them.

Hank Greenberg, the former chairman and chief executive of the insurance giant American International Group, and Kenneth Langone, who used to be chairman of the New York Stock Exchange's compensation committee, are considering launching a co-ordinated campaign against Mr Spitzer.

Both high-profile businessmen are being pursued by the crusading attorney general over alleged wrong-doing. Mr Greenberg is accused of accounting fraud, while Mr Langone is being sued for his role in allowing the NYSE's former chairman Dick Grasso to pocket $187m (£106m) in pay.

Mr Greenberg and Mr Langone deny they have done anything wrong and have recently lashed out at Mr Spitzer's tactics, including his use of the media to make damaging allegations about people he is investigating.

After 40 years running AIG, Mr Greenberg was ousted in March amid Mr Spitzer's investigation into accounting irregularities at the insurer. The 80-year-old executive said last week: "For the attorney general to use his office to prosecute, and persecute, people in the press for political gain is wholly against our legal principles. It's outrageous."
more...

Puts a new spin on Grumpy Old 80 year old billionaires... They can't figure out how this upstart kicked them out of their theiving...

[Erika]

1. You mean big money doesn't like a democrat?

The GOP don't mind openly being bought.

[mbperrin]

2. Funny, they complain about his use of the media by....?

Using the media! If they're so damned innocent, why not just wait for your day in court, fuckers?
Scuse my French, please! But billionaires who feel picked on nauseate me...

[fujiyama]

3. A backlash among the wealthy elite?

Wow, big surprise. Since when were billionaires likely to vote Democrat anyways? OK, with the exception of Warren Buffet, most are concerned ultimately about their own damn pocket book among everything else.

[lovuian]

4. its more than that these guys are Billionaires and they think

they should be able to steal break the law cause they are RICH... they have enough money but at 80 ya wanted to be remembered not as a thief ...

[GatoLover]

5. I don't know what Langone and Greenberg's politics are

but they are both after Spitzer for a very non-political reason -- he's after them.

I'm suspicious of Hank Greenberg's role in AIG's byzantine accounting, but Langone is different IMHO. Spitzer has basically accused him of overpaying Dick Grasso, former Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, based on the fact that the NYSE is technically a non-profit organization. That's a laugh. Langone vehemently denies that he did anything wrong and, after tons of discovery, it looks like he's right. Spitzer apparently expected him to settle quietly and seems to have no, ahem, exit strategy from a high-profile but ill-conceived lawsuit.

[soothsayer]

6. A Spitzer take. Is that like a spit take?