This executive was apparently taking a $1 salary, and was to receive a retention bonus of over $700K in March. That seems to me to be an obscene amount of money, no matter how talented one is. However, I do think it is important to read contrarian views, and this letter represents that. What is becoming clear to me from various articles is that these employees, although having worked at the AIG FP division,
did not have anything to do with the credit default swaps. I feel lied to by the media on this count. That was a pretty important piece of information we should have been given in order to adjust our Outrage Machine Capacity.
It is normal to receive bonuses, by the way, when a company is going under. Even little guys like me were offered a small retention bonus to stay on at a company that was closing. I think the problem is that AIG has not adjusted to the new reality: that a $1 million bonus is completely out of whack.
Take his letter with as many grains of salt as you want. Maybe he is not telling the truth. He certainly is tone deaf about his sense of entitlement on the amount of money he deserves. But I have seen good people destroyed by the Outrage Machine in the past (especially Democrats and activists targeted by the right wing smear machine), and that makes me pause when we accept Outrage without considering all the facts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?partner=rss&emc=rssThe following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.
DEAR Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.
Most of his wrath lies with Liddy. Here are some interesting pieces of information:
But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.
My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.
That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts “distasteful.”
That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.
At no time during the past six months that you have been leading A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your appearance last week before Congress.
I just want to end by saying that I don't present this letter because I sympathize with the guy -- I simply cannot, given his continued "feel sorry for me" schtick while he clearly will be able to retire with millions. He is as tone deaf as his boss Liddy. However, I am presenting it because many facts were left out, and now, after the fury is over, they are finally coming out.
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