BENMOSCHE EXPRESSES REGRET FOR ATTACK ON CUOMO

AIG has said that its recently appointed CEO Robert Benmosche “regrets” comments that he apparently made about New York AG Andrew Cuomo at a meeting for AIG’s life assurance staff on August 11. Bloomberg had reported that Mr Benmosche told AIG employees that Mr Cuomo had been “unbelievably wrong” to draw attention to bonus recipients at AIG, that Mr Cuomo did not deserve to be in government and that what he had done was “criminal”. Mr Cuomo subpoenaed AIG in March amidst controversy over $165m in retention bonuses. He said that those who returned the cash would not have their names published, implicitly threatening to release the names of all those who did not return the cash. Many AIG employees later complained of public persecution over the matter. AIG spokeswoman Christina Pretto said in response to the Bloomberg piece that Mr Benmosche “now recognizes that the New York Attorney General resisted public pressure to disclose the names of AIG employees during the controversy in March regarding compensation, and with emotions running high, he noted the importance of all parties to proceed with care and sober judgment”. At the meeting, held behind closed doors in Houston, Mr Benmosche further distanced himself from his predecessor Edward Liddy, stating that he would never have tolerated the treatment doled out to Mr Liddy at the Congressional hearings in March and May. “I would have told them what to do with this job, and I would have said it on TV: ‘You can stick it where the sun don’t shine’”, Mr Benmosche reportedly said.