A congressional oversight committee is investigating whether American International Group Inc. used bailout money to wage a public relations campaign and attack its critics.
In a letter sent to AIG, Rep. Edolphus Towns, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the company for extensive details on all of its public relations activities since it began receiving $182 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
According to Towns, his investigation was sparked on the eve of an April 2 oversight hearing, when he learned that AIG was circulating an allegedly damaging dossier on the company's former CEO, Maurice Greenberg.
Greenberg, who resigned from the company in 2005 in the face of an accounting scandal, has been a frequent critic of the company in recent months, as he has tried to put the blame for the company's collapse on decisions made after he left. AIG's dossier, "The Greenberg Legacy," puts the responsibility back on him for creating the housing-related derivatives that almost bankrupted the company.
Earlier this month, Time magazine reported that Greenberg is advising the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department on how to restructure the insurance giant. He is said to favor rebuilding the company "so that it is a taxpayer and an employer again," rather than selling off its constituent parts as some have suggested.
In his letter, Towns asks Edward Liddy, AIG's current chairman and chief executive, to address his company's relationship with two major public relations firms, Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller. AIG is also asked to provide copies of all contracts and invoices from those companies, and to answer whether either was involved in preparing the Greenberg dossier.
In a prepared statement, AIG said its public relations efforts were necessary to correct Greenberg's "false and misleading statements." The company said Greenberg's activities, which have included at least 30 media appearances, were "damaging" to the company and taxpayers, who now own approximately 80 percent of the firm.
In a letter sent to AIG, Rep. Edolphus Towns, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the company for extensive details on all of its public relations activities since it began receiving $182 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
According to Towns, his investigation was sparked on the eve of an April 2 oversight hearing, when he learned that AIG was circulating an allegedly damaging dossier on the company's former CEO, Maurice Greenberg.
Greenberg, who resigned from the company in 2005 in the face of an accounting scandal, has been a frequent critic of the company in recent months, as he has tried to put the blame for the company's collapse on decisions made after he left. AIG's dossier, "The Greenberg Legacy," puts the responsibility back on him for creating the housing-related derivatives that almost bankrupted the company.
Earlier this month, Time magazine reported that Greenberg is advising the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department on how to restructure the insurance giant. He is said to favor rebuilding the company "so that it is a taxpayer and an employer again," rather than selling off its constituent parts as some have suggested.
In his letter, Towns asks Edward Liddy, AIG's current chairman and chief executive, to address his company's relationship with two major public relations firms, Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller. AIG is also asked to provide copies of all contracts and invoices from those companies, and to answer whether either was involved in preparing the Greenberg dossier.
In a prepared statement, AIG said its public relations efforts were necessary to correct Greenberg's "false and misleading statements." The company said Greenberg's activities, which have included at least 30 media appearances, were "damaging" to the company and taxpayers, who now own approximately 80 percent of the firm.
published April 15, 2009, 0 Comments
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