I could go on and on about this piece of news but I'll spare myself days of endless ranting. Instead, I'll just thrown in a few lines.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124956529248610983.html
I am completely disgusted to the bone. Under Greenberg's watch, AIG committed securities fraud which led to its collapse, costing (thus far) over $180 billion of YOUR money. Meanwhile, Greenberg sold much of his own AIG stock in advance, netting him hundreds of millions of dollars - money taken away from shareholders, while understating (and perhaps lieing) about the company's financial condition.
Folks I'd say that if the SEC really was out to protect investors, they'd have a pretty easy case against Greenberg for insider trading. If anyone other than the SEC was involved, he would also be facing huge fines and prison time for securities fraud.
Let's have a brief look at just one month of Greenberg's profiteering activities:
August 2007: AIG calls its exposure to subprime debt "minimal."
September 2007: Greenberg and his Starr International continue their immense sell-off of AIG stock, which is still priced at $66 or $67 a share.
Sept. 4: 400,000 AIG shares sold, $26.4 million profit.
Sept. 5: 900 shares sold, $59,000 profit
Sept. 18: 400,000 shares sold, $26.6 million profit
Sept. 19: 800,000 shares sold, $53.9 million profit
Sept. 20: 300,000 shares sold, $20.1 million profit
Sept. 21: 300,000 shares sold, $20.1 million profit
Sept. 24: 275,400 shares sold, $18.5 million profit
Sept. 25: 324,600 shares sold, $21.8 million profit
Sept. 26: 300,000 shares sold, $20.1 million profit
Sept. 27: 300,000 shares sold, $20.2 million profit
Sept. 28: 300,000 shares sold, $20.2 million profit
These transactions represent almost 100% pure profits stolen from shareholdes because he receives the stock at $0 cost basis or close to it. The total for the month comes out to nearly $250 million. I'd say that's a stellar month even when matched against industry standards of other Wall Street criminals.
But he made even more through the sales of his own shares. When tallied, this is could be the biggest case of individual fraud over a month by any individual in history.
When asked about his settled with the SEC, Greenberg responded, "It's (the $15 million) not an insignificant amount."
Greenberg, you are dirty, filthy crooked *******. And I will celebrate when your greedy crooked *** croaks, which should be soon given that your 84 years old.
You can't take the money you stole from working people with you to your grave. The only thing you will take with you is the knowledge that you are hated around the world. And your heirs will have to deal with your legacy of shame.
It's the same song and dance by these Wall Street criminals, over and over, facilitated by the SEC and ultimately Washington. Now you know why I advise everyone to never invest in the stock market if at all possible.
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