WASHINGTON — The man who built insurance giant American International Group Inc. from a startup to a global behemoth said he didn’t mismanage the company — but the government did.
Following weeks of public and congressional outrage over the largest corporate failure in U.S. history, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, AIG’s chief executive until March 2005, said taxpayers got a raw deal in the largest bailout of the financial crisis.
In his first testimony since the government stepped in with the first of four bailouts for AIG, Greenberg, 83, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday that his leadership team had “nothing to do” with failures that so far have cost taxpayers more than $182 billion.
But he spread blame generously across virtually every other party involved in the company and its rescue — including subsequent management, federal regulators and ratings agencies.
An AIG spokesman disputed Greenberg’s claims, and lawmakers questioned the truthfulness of his testimony.
Since taking over the company, the government has left taxpayers with a nearly 80 percent stake “in a steadily diminishing asset” and no good exit strategy, Greenberg said.
