March 16, 2009

Cuomo’s AIG Deadline: The Clock Is Ticking

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Andrew Cuomo, New York’s attorney general, is a demanding man. First he demanded bonus information from Merrill Lynch, which paid out billions to its employees before announcing it lost over $15 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. When Merrill wasn’t forthcoming, he asked for it again and demanded the same information from Bank of America, which bought Merrill Lynch in late 2008. Now he’s demanding bonus information from AIG, and he wants it by 4pm today. If Cuomo doesn’t get what he wants by then, he’ll be issuing subpoenas for it. Given Cuomo’s recent history, it’s unlikely he’s bluffing. In his letter (PDF) to AIG CEO Edward Liddy, Cuomo writes:

We were disturbed to learn over the weekend of AIG’s plans to pay millions of dollars to members of the Financial Products subsidiary through its Financial Products Retention Plan. Financial Products was, of course, the division of AIG that led to its meltdown and the huge infusion of taxpayer funds to save the firm. Previously, AIG had agreed at our request to make no payments out of its $600 million Financial Products deferred compensation pool.

We have requested the list of individuals who are to receive payments under this retention plan, as well as their positions at the firm, and it is surprising that you have yet to provide this information.

Cuomo has yet to get the list of individuals he originally requested. If you’ve been following the attorney general’s modus operandi, you’ll know what happens next. He didn’t get what he originally wanted, so now he’s asking for more:

In addition, we also now request a description of each individual’s job description and performance at AIG Financial Products. Please also provide whatever contracts you now claim obligate you to make these payments. Moreover, you should immediately provide us with a list of who negotiated these contracts and who developed this retention plan so we can begin to investigate the circumstances surrounding these questionable bonus arrangements. Finally, we demand an immediate status report as to whether the payments under the retention plan have been made.

Judging from AIG’s past history and general incompetence, it seems unlikely that the business will want to or be able to put together the information Cuomo wants in the next few hours. It’s probably safe to assume that subpoenas will be forthcoming.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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