AIG & OBAMA: Laundering Our Money?

Updated by FactReal on Oct. 1, 2009

AIG IN FACTS
● THE BIG STORY: $101.3 BILLION LAUNDERED THRU AIG to pay other U.S. and FOREIGN banks (some big Obama donors).
● THE DISTRACTION: $165 MILLION AIG BONUSES allowed by the so-called Stimulus bill
● THE REAL AGENDA: PRECEDENTS & EXPANSION BY GOVERNMENT
The government and the media want Americans to focus on the $165 millions in contractual bonuses AIG gave to their employees.
They fail to mention: The bonus loophole was inserted by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd in the so-called Stimulus bill.
They fail to mention: $101.3 Billion bailout money has been laundered thru AIG to pay special interest firms. We are failing to focus on the big picture: Politicians are creating precedent for government confiscations and expansion – all financed with our taxpayer money.

AIG BONUSES TO POLITICIANS Democrats received 68% of AIG’s contributions for the 2008 elections. #1 AIG RECIPIENT: DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA ● Obama & leaders in Congress rammed the “Stimulus” bill thru Congress not allowing enough time to read the bill and opening the chance for problems like AIG’s bonuses. ● Obama’s most generous donors include many of the companies that received bailout money.	click image for source OpenSecrets.org
#2 AIG RECIPIENT: DEMOCRAT SENATOR CHRIS DOOD ● Chairman of the Senate’s Banking committee which oversees AIG and the insurance industry, financial institutions, housing & mass transit programs. ● Dodd’s most generous donors come from the insurance, finance, hedge funds, and real estate industry, including many of the companies that received taxpayer bailout. ● He provided the bonus loophole for AIG.

Sources/Related: OpenSecrets: AIG Donations, OpenSecrets: AIG Payouts to Washington, Examiner: Democrats Bonuses, MichelleMalkin: Bailout money buying politicians, Newsweek: Follow the Bailout Cash, Gateway: Dodd’s wife was director of AIG controlled firm 

AIG MONEY LAUNDERING AIG USED $101.3 BILLION BAILOUT MONEY TO PAY OTHER BANKS (including foreign banks and big Obama donors) $101.3 Billion taxpayer money redistributed to AIG is being used by the U.S. Treasury, the Obama Administration and Congress to bail out the rest of the world: $57.8 Billions to foreign banks and $43.5 Billions to U.S. financial entities

AIG BAILOUT MONEY PAID TO BANKS					DONORS TO OBAMA & DODD
FINANCIAL ENTITY	AMOUNT ($ billion)	TOTAL ($ billion)	COUNTRY	NOTES
Bank of Montreal	1.1	1.1	Canada
Danske	0.2	0.2	Denmark
Société Générale	11.9		France
BNP Paribas	4.9		France
Calyon	2.3		France
		19.1	France
Deutsche Bank	11.8		Germany
Dresdner Kleinwort	2.2		Germany
Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank	1.0		Germany
DZ Bank	0.7		Germany
KFW	0.5		Germany
Dresdner Bank AG	0.4		Germany
Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg	0.1		Germany
		16.7	Germany
ING	1.5		Netherlands
Rabobank	0.8		Netherlands
		2.3	Netherlands
Banco Santander	0.3	0.3	Spain
UBS	5.0		Switzerland
Credit Suisse	0.4		Switzerland	big donor to Chris Dodd
		5.4	Switzerland
Barclays	8.5		UK
HSBC Bank USA	3.5		UK
Royal Bank of Scotland	0.7		UK	big donor to Chris Dodd
		12.7	UK
PAYMENTS TO FOREIGN ENTITIES		57.8	OVERSEAS
Goldman Sachs	12.9		US	big donor to Obama, Chris Dodd
States and Cities	12.0		US
Merrill Lynch	6.8		US	big donor to Chris Dodd
Bank of America	5.2		US
Citigroup	2.3		US	big donor to Obama, Chris Dodd
Wachovia	1.5		US
Morgan Stanley	1.2		US	big donor to Obama, Chris Dodd
AIG International Inc.	0.6		US
JP Morgan	0.4		US	big donor to Obama, Chris Dodd
Citadel	0.2		US
Paloma Securities	0.2		US
Reconstruction Finance Corp	0.2		US
PAYMENTS TO U.S. ENTITIES		43.5	US

Sources: AIG counterparties payments (PDF), AIG resources, BusinessWeek, MoneyCentral, Forbes: AIG Outs Counterparties, Forbes: AIG other bonuses, NYT: AIG payments to counterparties, NYT: AIG lists banks it paid with U.S. bailout funds

Related: PajamasMedia: Bailout companies invested in Obama, MichelleMalkin: You and I are bailing out the world, GatewayPundit: Obama received bonus from AIG

THE TROJAN HORSE: Bonus Loophole Created by Lawmakers
CNN video: Dodd finally admits he created the bonus loophole	“I’m responsible for bonus loophole” finally admits Democrat Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) (Transcript & videos)

Sources:
● Bloomberg: Dodd Blames Obama Administration for Bonus Amendment
● CNN: “Sen. Dodd told CNN Wednesday that officials in the Treasury Department asked him to add the bonus loophole to the stimulus bill before it was passed….he was responsible for adding the bonus loophole into the stimulus package that permitted AIG and other companies that received bailout funds to pay bonuses….On Tuesday, Dodd [had]denied to CNN that he had anything to do with the adding of that provision.”
● CNN: Bonuses allowed by stimulus bill

ANOTHER CRISIS CREATED BY POLITICIANS
● “STIMULUS” BILL WAS RUSHED: Obama, Reid & Pelosi rushed the “Stimulus” bill thru Congress, no legislator had time to read the bill
● BONUS LOOPHOLE: Democrat Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, inserted the loophole in Obama’s “stimulus” package (H.R.1) to exempt bonuses granted by contract before Feb. 11, 2009, from restrictions on bonus payments for TARP recipients:

Dodd Amendment on Bonuses:
“The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.”

Sources: Bonus Loophole in H.R.1 under section 7001 ‘Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance’: Government Printing Office, go to page 404. ReadTheStimulus.
Library of Congress (Thomas), select H.R.1.ENR, then DIVISION B, TITLE VII, SEC. 7001(b)(3)(D)(iii).

● FEDS KNEW FOR MONTHS ABOUT THE COMING BONUSES
WSJ:
○ “The fact that AIG was set to pay bonuses to employees at the financial-products division wasn’t a secret. AIG disclosed the retention payments in May 2008 in a securities filing, and lawmakers routinely criticized them.”
○ “Fed and Treasury officials have coordinated closely on all aspects of the U.S. government’s support for AIG during this extraordinary period,” a New York Fed spokesman said.”
WAPO:
○ “AIG disclosed its retention-payment program more than a year ago, and the amount of the bonuses — more than $400 million for Financial Products alone — had been widely reported. But as the payments were coming due in recent days, the White House began to express its indignation.”
○ “Attorneys working for the Fed had been examining the matter for months and determined that the retention payments couldn’t be touched because AIG would face costly lawsuits and be subject to penalties from states and foreign governments. Administration officials said over the weekend that they agreed with that assessment.”

● POLITICIANS FAKE OUTRAGE OVER BONUSES (that they created)
Freddoso: (Hat tip: MichelleMalkin)
“But why is Obama so outraged and surprised?…he signed the very bill that quite clearly made those bonuses legal — the $787 billion stimulus package he had traveled around the nation promoting. The bill includes restrictions on executive compensation, but creates an exception for bonuses contractually obligated before February 11 of this year. The provision, and the exception, were inserted into the bill by the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd (D, Conn.), who has received more than $100,000 from AIG employees in the last 20 years, had written and inserted the relevant provision, with the relevant loophole. How can he, the president, or anyone else who voted for the stimulus, suddenly act surprised? Don’t tell us they didn’t read the bill.”

RELEASING THE ANGRY MOB ● AIG derangement syndrome: “Every politician in Washington wants to show they care by bashing AIG. Which almost all of them agreed to bail out.” ● Democrats to AIG: Give back the bonus money or we will release your public information ● All of the people should be executed with piano wire around their neck
NO MORE PRIVACY
	I can’t promise confidentiality even though you’re getting death threats said Democrat Barney Frank to AIG Barney Frank wont promise confidentiality to AIG despite death threats

MOB RELEASED TO HOMES OF AIG EMPLOYEES COULD YOUR HOME BE NEXT?
			Yahoo News: “FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses……One of the protestors “marveled at AIG executive James Haas’ colonial house, which has stunning views of a golf course and the Long Island Sound…”Lord, I wonder what it’s like to live in a house that size,” she said…News of the bonuses last week ignited a firestorm of controversy and even death threats against AIG employees.”Do they know it was Congress & the Administration that created the bonus loophole? Would they go to protest to Congress & the White House?
	AIG Witch Hunt: Envious protesters in front of AIG employees... will you be next?

FEEDING POPULIST ANGER
LawHawk: “What is truly galling is that the Democrats in Congress, along with the President, are trying to stoke populist anger against AIG and other corporations, all while skirting the truth that it was Congress itself that was responsible for this mess – the bailouts along with the allowances for executive compensation. If there is anger, it should be directed at the President and Congress, both of which knew that this executive compensation was to be paid.”

THE REAL AGENDA: CREATE PRECEDENTS CONFISCATORY TAXES
video: click image	“We’ll put in place a new law that will allow us to tax these bonuses at a very high rate” threatens Democrat Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)Schumer fails to mention that they, the lawmakers and the Obama Administration, created the loophole for the AIG contractual bonuses!!! Why politicians think they can change a private contract? Why they feel they are at liberty to impose tax rates as high as 90% or 100%? Why they feel they can target specific individuals with punitive taxes? Imagine he was saying this to you. Why do we allow this?
90% TAX LAW Democrat Charlie Rangel sponsored HR1586 to tax 90% of bonuses: ● Houses passes bill with vote 328 – 93 ● Roll call ● Legislation Text

USEFUL IDIOTS ALWAYS HELP THE COMMUNISTS
Some Republicans abandoned their free-market principles and voted in favor of this government abuse. Can’t they see the big picture?
● Roll Call Vote: 85 House Republicans who supported Rangels 90% bonus tax

UPDATE: THE CASE AGAINST CHRIS DODD

RELATED
- WASHINGTON TIMES: AIG extorted employees to donate to Dodd!
- Culture of Corruption: Dodd/Conrad cleared in Countrywide probe
- Election 2010: Connecticut’s Dodd Trails Potential GOP Foe by 10 (Rasmussen, 9/11/09)
- Conservatives need more guerilla media and invest in adding value:
“That means research, muckraking, fact-checking, policy wonkery, information organization and information activism.”

…..to be continued….this story will be updated as more facts come in