CHAPTER EIGHT
151 remained close in the decade since Dimon had been forced out: Regarding Citigroup, Dimon told New York magazine: “I left ten years ago… . No, I didn’t leave, I was fired. I was kicked out of the nest.” Duff McDonald, “The Heist,” New York, March 24, 2008.
151 A glass cabinet displayed replicas of two wood-handled pistols: Crisaf ulli, “Replicas of the famous pistols are displayed in the JPMorgan lobby, while the originals—curious icons of the bank ’s storied past—are displayed on the executive floor,” The House of Dimon, 7.
151 Like Dimon, Willumstad had been outmaneuvered by Weilclass="underline" He announced his departure in July but didn’t officially step down until September 5, 2005. David Enrich, “Citigroup Pres Willumstad to Step Down in Sept,” Dow Jones, July 14, 2005.
151 Brysam Global Partners: Brysam began business at the end of January 2007. “Willumstad and Magner Establish Private Equity Firm that Will Focus on Financial Services Investments in Emerging Markets,” Business Wire, January 22, 2007.
151 His partner, Marge Magner, was another Citigroup exile: With Citigroup since 1987, Magner had most recently been chairman and CEO of the company’s Global Consumer Group. Mark McSherry and Jonathan Stempel, “Citigroup’s Consumer Chief Magner to Leave,” Reuters, August 22, 2005.
151 He was the chairman of the board of American International Group: Willumstad first joined AIG’s board as a director in early 2006. Later that year Frank Zarb, acting as interim chairman, suggested him for the job. Emily Thornton and Jena McGregor, “A Tepid Welcome for AIG’s New Boss,” BusinessWeek, June 30, 2008.
152 Willumstad’s beginnings: Lynnley Browning, “A Quiet Banker in a Big Shadow,” New York Times, March 10, 2002.
152 at a conference in Boca Raton: Gillian Tett, “The Dream Machine,” Financial Times, March 25, 2008.
152 blitzkrieg of acquisitions: Commercial Credit acquired Primerica, Shearson, and Travelers in 1993, Aetna’s property and casualty business in 1996, Salomon Brothers in 1997, culminating with Citigroup in 1998. Shawn Tully, “The Jamie Dimon Show,” Fortune, July 22, 2002.
154 Removing Sullivan, installing Willumstad: Liam Pleven, Randall Smith, and Monica Langley, “AIG Ousts Sullivan, Taps Willumstad as Losses Mount,” Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2008.
154 in a small office in Shanghai: Shelp, Fallen Giant, 17-28, 153-60; Brian Bremner, “AIG’s Asian Connection; Can It Maintain Its Strong Growth in the Region?” BusinessWeek, September 15, 2003.
154 market value of $300 million: Carol J. Loomis, “AIG: Aggressive. Inscrutable. Greenberg,” Fortune, April 27, 1998.
154 with a market value of just under $80 billion: At the end of AIG’s second quarter (August 2008), it had over $1 trillion in assets and about $78 billion in shareholders equity. Matthew Karnitschnig, Liam Pleven, and Peter Lattman, “AIG Scrambles to Raise Cash, Talks to Fed,” Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2008.
155 Greenberg’s upbringing: Reports conflict on Greenberg’s age at the time of his father’s death. This author has chosen to go with the age listed in Shelp, Fallen Giant, 95-96.
155 Greenberg talked his way into a job as a $75-a-week insurance underwriting trainee: “On a whim, he wandered into the offices of Continental Casualty in lower Manhattan in 1953 and talked his way into the office of the personnel director. Greenberg thought the man was excessively rude, so he stormed into the office of a vice president and told him that Continental’s personnel director was a ‘jerk.’ He was rewarded with a job as a $75-a-week underwriting trainee. Before the end of the decade, he was Continental’s assistant vice president in charge of accident and health insurance.” See Devin Leonard, “Greenberg & Sons,” Fortune, February 21, 2005.
155 C.V. Starr’s story and AIG: Ibid.; Monica Langley, “Eastern Front: AIG and Fired Chief Greenberg Cross Paths Again—in China.” Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2005; Shelp, Fallen Giant, 95-102.
156 “Sit down, Gordon, and shut up”: Shelp, Fallen Giant, 104.
156 He drove himself relentlessly: Fortune reported that Greenberg installed a StairMaster on the corporate jet as well, to keep fit in flight. Leonard, “Greenberg & Sons,” Fortune.
156 He showed little affection for anyone: As he told Cindy Adams, “You learn fast who your friends are. Some I considered close became a lot less close. They separated quickly. Many you think loyal are suddenly not and you find out during adversity… . But Snowball gives me extra love. She sleeps with me. Puts her head on my shoulder.” Cindy Adams, “Ex-AIG Executive on Friends, Family,” New York Post, October 25, 2005.
156 Jeffrey, Evan Greenberg: Albert B. Crenshaw, “Another Son of CEO Leaves AIG,” Washington Post, September 20, 2000; Christopher Oster, “Uneasy Sits the Greenbergs’ Insurance Crown,” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2004; Diane Brady, “Insurance and the Greenbergs, like Father like Sons,” BusinessWeek, March 1, 1999.
157 AIG agreed to pay $10 million: According to an SEC press release: “AIG developed and marketed a so-called ‘non-traditional’ insurance product for the stated purpose of ‘income statement smoothing,’ i.e., enabling a public reporting company to spread the recognition of known and quantified one-time losses over several future reporting periods… . AIG issued the purported insurance policy to Brightpoint for the purpose of assisting Brightpoint to conceal $11.9 million in losses that Brightpoint sustained in 1998.” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “AIG Agrees to Pay $10 Million Civil Penalty,” September 11, 2003. http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-111.htm.
157 AIG agreed to pay $126 million to settle: “In consenting to settle the Commission’s action and related, criminal charges, AIG has agreed to pay disgorgement, plus prejudgment interest, and penalties totaling $126,366,000.” Securities and Exchange Commission v. American International Group, Inc., Litigation Release No. 18985, November 30, 2004. See http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr18985.htm.
157 deferred prosecution agreement: Pamela H. Bucy, “Trends in Corporate Criminal Prosecutions Symposium: Corporate Criminality: Legal, Ethical, and Managerial Implications,” American Criminal Law Review, September 22, 2007.
157 “Dr. Strangelove of Derivatives”: Lynnley Browning, “AIG’s House of Cards,” Portfolio, September 28, 2008.
158 Warren Buffett called them weapons of mass destruction: In the past he had referred to them as “time bombs” and “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Clare Gascoigne, “A Two-Faced Form of Investment—the Culture of Derivatives,” Financial Times, May 3, 2003.
158 Sosin fled to AIG: Sosin signed a joint venture agreement with AIG on January 27, 1987, and shortly recruited the ten men who would join his team, which already included Drexel’s Randy Rackson and Barry Goldman as partners. See Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Brady Dennis, “The Beautiful Machine,” Washington Post, December 29, 2008.
158 traders got to keep some 38 percent of the profits: Ibid. AIGFP reportedly kept 38 percent of the profits, with AIG retaining 62 percent. The Washington Post noted that Greenberg later said this figure was 65 percent.
158 “You guys up at FP ever do anything to my Triple-A rating”: Ibid.
158 formed a “shadow group”: Ibid. Randall Smith, Amir Efrati, and Liam Pleven, “AIG Group Tied to Swaps Draws Focus of Probes,” Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2008.