Thus far the public outrage over the $93 billion that AIG is paying to its counterparties has focused on payments to Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and other big banks, but two hedge funds have received $400 million of taxpayer money.
Citadel Investment Group and Paloma Securities—a branch of Conn.-Based Paloma Partners—were paid $200 million each of taxpayer dollars between Sept. 18 and Dec. 31, according to the list of securities lending counterparties released on Sunday by AIG.
According to the insurance giant, the payments were contractual obligations of AIG under its securities lending agreements.
AIG recorded a stunning fourth quarter loss of $61.7 billion—the largest corporate loss in U.S. history. On Sunday, in addition to the list of counterparties, the firm also announced that it would be paying millions of dollars (some media reports claim up to $1 billion) in bonuses to retain its top employees. The firm said that these payments were also contractual agreements, and that in the future the insurance giant would try to rein in employee compensation.
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