Yes, we should see the clause and more. We should see the detail, all the detail, of exactly why the clause should be enforced. Let us get into the nitty gritty of exactly how the bonus was earned. Open the books wide. Send in the auditors. Deploy the IRS. Give the Justice Department something to do. Since they aren't prosecuting Bush and Cheney, they need work.

At the very least Elizabeth Warren, who's the chair of the committee supervising the bail-out money and a professor at Harvard Law, should be looking over those "so-called" contracts with a magnifying glass.

I not only don't object. I expect they should deliver them to Elizabeth Warren by courier ASAP!

Plus, hearings should be called for in the Congress. Haul these folks in to be grilled in front of cameras! Bring in every one of these folks!

It would be good if all requesting a bonus are taken in for mug shots!

There may be people lower down in the scheme of things that did all they were supposed to do to get a small bonus. Fine.

No one at AIG did anything to earn hundreds of thousands, nevertheless millions of dollars! I want to see it in writing!

The contract follows:
To wit and heretofore and into perpetuity:

You are entitle to a retention bonus of $1bn unless and until AIG (the Company) goes belly up at which point you will be entitled to 10% of the bailout money providing you have not contributed to the mess. In the case that you have contributed to the mess you will receive the lesser of 5% of the bailout money or $1bn. This clause is ironclad and cannot be broken by any government flunky.

It makes sense if in reality the millions in bonuses. Is really a kick back or the VIG

Maybe these business partners gamed the system as a tax avoidance scheme.

Maybe even laundered money and this is the VIG?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigorish

Vigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan.

Because of the vigorish concept, bookmakers should not have an interest in either side winning in a given sporting event. They are interested, instead, in getting equal action on each side of the event. In this way, the bookmaker minimizes his risk and always collects a small commission from the vigorish.

http://static1.firedoglake.com/1/files//2009/03/ny12532-_432294-v7-white_paper_-_aigfp_retention_plan.pdf

Sheeeesh.

Read it carefully...

...pay the bonuses...yes...as suggested on another thread, with the toxic credit swaps these con artists cooked up in 2008 to pad their paychecks, and value the swaps at the amount the 'best and brightest' gave when they kited the IOU's.

Cuomo Reveals AIG Details: 73 Employees Got Multi-Million-Dollar Bonuses

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/cuomo-reveals-details-of_n_175865.html

The top recipient received more than $6.4 million; • The top seven bonus recipients received more than $4 million each; • The top ten bonus recipients received a combined $42 million; • 22 individuals received bonuses of $2 million or more, and combined they received more than $72 million; • 73 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more; and • Eleven of the individuals who received "retention" bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million;

Again, these payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary whose performance
led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG. Thus, last week, AIG made more than 73
millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing taxpayer bailout. Something is deeply wrong with this outcome. I hope the Committee will
address it head on.

We have also now obtained the contracts under which AIG decided to make these payments. The contracts shockingly contain a provision that required most individuals' bonuses to be 100% of their 2007 bonuses. Thus, in the Spring of last year, AIG chose to lock in bonuses for 2008 at 2007 levels despite obvious signs that 2008 performance would be disastrous in comparison to the year before. My Office has thus begun to closely examine the circumstances under which the plan was created.