liddy-ed.thumbnail.jpgEd Liddy’s having a rough week of it. First, Ed Towns wants to know if AIG used TARP money to pay public relations firms to attack critics of the AIG bailout:

Under Rules X and XI of the House Rules, the Committee is investigating allegations that taxpayer funds invested by the federal government in AIG may have been used to pay public relations firms to attack critics of AIG and the federal bailout.

Then, we learned that "dollar a year" Ed has a $3 million stake in Goldman Sachs. Which doesn’t look too good, considering Goldman got $13 billion funneled through AIG as a counterparty when Liddy was at the helm. But don’t worry, he had nothing to do with it:

“A.I.G. is a large institution that engages in standard commercial activity with companies all over the world,” Ms. Pretto said. “These activities are handled in the normal, day-to-day course of business and rarely, if ever, rise to the level of the C.E.O.”

So, the defense seems to be — $13 billion in government money out the door to Goldman, but Liddy couldn’t be bothered. If it helped the value of his Goldman stock, happy coincidence.

Now it turns out that AIG, who recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for taxpayer-funded medical policies for civilian contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan, are routinely denying "the most serious medical claims":

The insurance system for civilian contractors has generated profits for the providers, primarily AIG, the war zone’s dominant player. Insurers collected more than $1.5 billion in premiums paid by U.S. taxpayers and have earned nearly $600 million in profit, according to congressional investigators.

A military audit deemed AIG’s premiums "unreasonably high."

Insurance companies initially rejected 44% of claims from contractors involving serious injuries and more than half of all claims related to psychological stress, records show. As a result, civilians maimed or traumatized in the war zone often must wage lengthy court battles for medical care and benefits.

Liddy may claim that he only makes a dollar a year in salary from AIG, but he has an "undisclosed stock package" at AIG as well.

Elijah Cummings is calling on Liddy to resign. But look at the bright side — as long as he’s still around, he makes Steve Rattner look good.

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