Maxim says
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP (AIG)
Business: Insurance, financial services
Total donated to Bush '04 as of 5/31: $12,710*
Total donated to Kerry '04 as of 5/31: $21,200*
Fraud keeps the free world spinning. Without it, arson would be frivolous, multibillionaires would be just billionaires, and the world's largest insurer would be missing from our corporate hooligan hot list.
When Brightpoint, Inc. lost $29 million in 1998, AIG allegedly helped it make $12 million of that amount disappear.
(We say "allegedly," because AIG paid $10 million in civil penalties to make the charges disappear.)
Basically, the SEC alleges that AIG sold phony insurance to Brightpoint, making it appear as though the millions lost were being paid toward an AIG policy when, in fact, AIG was simply giving the money back to Brightpoint.
Ready to wet its feet again, AIG was overpaid $130 million in 2000 by the U.S. Transportation Department for insurance premiums tied to the Big Dig, an infrastructural money pit on which the city of Boston has toiled in futility for 13 years.
AIG invested this overpayment in the market and is believed to have kept half the profits.
Upon discovery of the overpayment and the resultant investment, Sen. John McCain insisted the loophole that allowed the situation be closed, which jeopardized $150 million in federal funding for the Big Dig project.
Sen. John Kerry persuaded McCain to drop the matter. Since 2000, Kerry has reaped $55,000 in AIG contributions overall—enough to fund the Big Dig for 26 minutes!
* Figures provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
http://www.maximonline.com/election/aig.asp
http://www.maximonline.com/election/ [22:55] [ ]
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