AIG Suing the Government... Have Pity On the Orphan

Even if willing to excuse the incompetents, those who didn't want the criminals who helped take down the economy to avoid any consequence have been reminding us for years that the statute of limitations was running:

In the meantime, the statute of limitations, generally five years for securities fraud and most other federal offenses, is running out, precluding the possibility of bringing many new suits dating from the bubble years.

The result is a public perception that the big banks and their leaders will never have to answer fully for the crisis. The shameless pursuit of Wall Street campaign donations by both political parties strengthens this perception, and further undermines confidence in the rule of law. There may be more civil fraud suits related to the financial crisis, producing settlements and fines. But to date, those cases have rarely named top executives and the banks have rarely admitted wrongdoing. And the fines, even those in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have been small compared with bank profits and banker bonuses.

After all these years, what is still needed are cases with convictions and settlements severe enough to deter future bad behavior. If institutions operating at the heart of the economy really cannot be held to account, the solution should be to break them up, not give them and their leaders a pass.

In an editorial that reminds me of the joke about the lawyer defending his client, accused of murdering his parents, "How can you say such awful things about this poor orphan," David Boies makes the case for AIG's suing the federal government for having the audacity to bail it out:

Objections to AIG shareholders having their day in court to contest the terms of the government's takeover of their company are based on ignorance of the law and the facts.

Opening your argument by pounding the table? Not a good sign.

David Boies is the lead attorney representing Starr International in a shareholder lawsuit against the government. Starr's chairman is Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, AIG's former chief executive.

One statement I do not expect to be hearing from Boies,

This suit was not commenced at an earlier date because it was complex, not because my client has done anything wrong or has anything to hide, and my client happily waives the statute of limitations for any criminal charges or civil claims arising from his own conduct. Pure as the driven snow, he is.

Most of Boies' arguments, no offense to the man, strike me as the leavings of a ruminant. I am to believe that private investors were lining up to bail out AIG with sweetheart deals, but that the U.S. government scared them off? Care to name one, or should we refer to them for now as "Hank Greenberg's invisible friends"?

Remember all that nonsense about "the sanctity of contracts" from back in the day, when insurance executives were insisting that gargantuan bonuses be paid to the idiots who took down the economy, and that payouts be made in full with taxpayer cash, because insurance companies cannot survive unless their word is gold? (Ever make an accident claim only to be lowballed by the insurance company, or fight to get a medical procedure covered? Then odds are you weren't fooled.) Remember how we were instructed that it could even be illegal for AIG to try to negotiate reduced payouts to counterparties? Now Boies complains that AIG actually had to live up to its word, the so-called "back door bailout", because the government used taxpayer money to fully fund AIG's liabilities.

If Darrell Issa has a spine hidden somewhere beneath his suit coat, perhaps he'll stop peering unsuccessfully under the skirts of Obama Administration officials, in search of fake scandals, and turn his attention full bore on AIG. And perhaps he can rally his fellow Republicans to authorize a blank check for the defense of the lawsuit - enough of the excuse for failing to prosecute of, "It's just too complicated". You didn't want to take the war to AIG, fine, but now AIG has brought the war to you. If Hank Greenberg has a case to make, let him make it - but turn the heat way up.