NU Online News Service, April 1, 9:18 a.m.EDT

WASHINGTON–The federal government is undertaking amultipronged probe of the bonuses paid American International Groupexecutives, including an initiative by the Department of Justice ofthe options available to recover the funds.

Disclosure of the multiple probes was made yesterday by NeilBarofsky, special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset ReliefProgram, in testimony on his oversight of the TARP program beforethe Senate Finance Committee.

He said that his office is coordinating with the DOJ on theoptions available to recover the bonuses paid AIG executives.

The government secured a 79.9 percent interest in AIG Septemberof last year when it began extending billions in loans and creditto keep the firm afloat.

Mr. Barofsky also said his agency has an audit underway thatseeks to determine the federal monitoring and enforcement ofexecutive compensation restrictions imposed as a condition offederal financial assistance to organizations such as AIG.

As part of this audit, he said, "we will be looking closely toensure that the bonuses to AIG employees are not inconsistent withAIG's legal or contractual obligations."

He said he also plans to report to Congress "the sequence ofevents" which led to the approval of these payments by governmentofficials (including the general approval of retention payments inAIG's agreement with Treasury in November 2008 when Henry Paulsenwas Treasury secretary).

"To the extent that we find that there were miscommunicationsamong AIG, Treasury and Federal Reserve officials regarding thesepayments, we will make recommendations to ensure that all partiesinvolved in TARP-related programs effectively communicate with oneanother," he said.