Former AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who led the insurance giant for nearly four decades, told Congress today that the federal bailout of the insurance giant has "failed" and that American taxpayers cannot expect to get their $180 billion investment back.
Greenberg, who was forced out of AIG in 2005, testified today before a House Oversight Committee about the federal government's efforts to prevent the company he helped build from collapsing under a mountain of bad debt.
In his prepared remarks, Greenberg argued that the government's plan to liquidate AIG has failed and also diminished its value for taxpayers, who now own 80 percent of the company after it received more than $180 billion in bailout cash.
"That plan has failed," he said. "A successful liquidation is impossible in the present economic climate since buyers for AIG assets at fair prices simply do not exist at this time. Fire-sale prices will bring taxpayers, who now own almost 80 percent of AIG, only pennies on the dollar for their investment in AIG."
"Since the day the treasury announced its plan to liquidate AIG, value has been destroyed because AIG's people and their relationships -- AIG's business -- are leaving," he said. "The evidence is overwhelming and indisputable that the American taxpayer is an investor in a steadily diminishing asset."
The hearing is the first in a series that the committee will hold on the failure of AIG. Later this month, current CEO Ed Liddy will testify before the panel.
Last month, Liddy came before a separate House panel and told Congress that AIG's "overall structure is too complex…to be managed as one entity." - ABC News
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