AIG Exec Shoots Back

The Truth Begins to Leak Out:

The American International Group Inc. (AIG) staff under fire for receiving bonuses for their role in unwinding the credit defaults swaps that almost destroyed the company have been unfairly persecuted by elected officials and betrayed by the company's CEO, an executive of the unit involved wrote.

In a resignation letter to AIG CEO Edward Liddy published in the opinion pages of Wednesday"s New York Times, Jake DeSantis, the executive vice president of the financial products unit, writes that he, like most of the employees in his group, weren't the ones responsible for setting up the credit default swaps in the first place, adding that most of those responsible have long left the company and have escaped the public outrage.

"As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised."

Though Liddy was aware of this, he failed to stand up for the employees, DeSantis wrote. "I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn't defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut."

Because of this, wrote DeSantis, he was leaving the company."I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid," wrote deSantis, who has worked for AIG for 11 years. "Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down."

DeSantis wrote that he would donate 100% of the effective after-tax proceeds of his bonus payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the downturn.