The board will review presentations by the U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Starr as directors work toward a decision by the end of this month. Suing the U.S. could present a public-relations challenge for the insurer, which has been running ads thanking taxpayers after repaying the bailout, which included funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, last year.
“AIG has paid back its debt to America with a profit, and we mean it when we say thank you to the American people,” Benmosche said in yesterday’s statement.
Lawmaker’s Response
Joe Courtney, a Democratic congressman from Connecticut, mentioned the latest advertising push as he took to Twitter Inc.’s website yesterday to rebuke AIG for weighing the suit.
“AIG ads thanking America ring hollow,” he wrote. “Choice was TARP or bankruptcy. Suit is garbage.”
Greenberg won a federal judge’s approval to proceed with the case against in July. In the complaint, Starr said the government paid $500,000 for an AIG stake that was worth $25 billion, violating the constitutional rights of shareholders to due process and equal protection of the law. A parallel case against the New York Fed was dismissed in November.
The case is Starr International Co. v. U.S., 1:11-cv-00779, U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Washington).