Reichert Demands Accountability on AIG's Lavish $440,000 Executives' Spa Retreat
Mercer Island, WA,
Oct 13 -
Congressman Dave Reichert (WA-08) this week will call on AIG to return money to the federal government after the news that the insurance giant spent over $440,000 on a lavish spa retreat for executives at a resort in Monarch Beach, CA, if proven that AIG used taxpayer dollars. AIG recently received an $85 billion loan of taxpayer dollars from the federal government.
"At a time when American taxpayers are concerned about their next paycheck and are at risk after the federal government has spent almost a trillion dollars bailing out Wall Street, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this is unacceptable," said Reichert. "AIG has slapped taxpayers in the face and we call on them to return any and all improperly spent taxpayer dollars. The company must be held accountable.
“I did not vote for the $200 billion Fannie-Freddie bailout, or the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, precisely because I was worried that there is not enough oversight measures included in the legislation. Now we see these reports and it disgusts me. People in our country are hurting, their retirement funds are disappearing, and these executives take advantage of them. Now that the other bailout packages have passed, I will go back to Congress later this year and into the next and continue to ensure that they have the proper oversight and accountability built into them so that this cannot happen again.”
Text of the letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke follows. The letter will be sent this week.
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October 2008
The Honorable Henry J. Paulson, Jr. The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke
Secretary of the Treasury Chairman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Twentieth Street & Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20220 Washington, DC 20551
Dear Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke:
We write to express strong concerns about AIG's possible misuse of federal taxpayer funds.
It has come to our attention that, after the Federal Government provided a loan of $85 billion to AIG, the AIG executives hosted a lavish $440,000 retreat at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California. Even more troubling, the day after this was revealed to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the New York branch of the Federal Reserve announced it will borrow $37.8 billion in investment-grade securities from AIG in exchange for cash.
At a time when many of our constituents have serious concerns about their own financial security, we demand that you ensure that no taxpayer funds were used by AIG to host this retreat. If taxpayer funds were used, we demand that AIG repay the American people in full. It is crucial that the American people be able to trust the actions of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury.
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