NU Online News Service, June 17, 12:15 p.m. EDT
|The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ended itsinvestigation of American International Group Inc. (AIG) and JosephCassano, former head of the company's Financial Products unit.
|No charges were filed.
|"We are pleased that the commission, like [the U.S. Departmentof Justice], has decided to close its inquiry, which is completelyappropriate in light of the facts," said F. Joseph Warin and JimWalden, attorneys for Mr. Cassano from the firm Gibson Dunn &Crutcher.
|The DOJ closed its investigation last month without filingcharges.
|"We think they realized that our client acted in good faith,kept his superiors informed, and was honest with investors," theattorneys added.
|AIG said it continues "to cooperate with other authorities ontheir assessment of these events as we focus on strengthening ourbusinesses and repaying America's taxpayers."
|Mr. Cassano left AIG in March 2008. Authorities probed theformer executive to determine if he and other AIG executives misledinvestors.
|AIG's Financial Products unit, with its dealings in creditdefault swaps, was at the center of the company's nearcollapse--which led to the federal government making $182.3 billionavailable via the Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out themassive company. AIG said it owed the government $101.6 billion asof March 31.
|A recent Congressional Oversight Panel report questioned whether the government will ever get all its moneyback. The bailout has distorted the marketplace and poses an"extraordinary risk to taxpayers," the report states.
|Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke recently toldlegislators he believes AIG will repay the government.
|At a shareholders meeting last month, AIG President and ChiefExecutive Officer Robert Benmosche said the company remains committed to repaying its debt to the federalgovernment.
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