AIG exec resigns in Op-Ed column

An American International Group Inc. executive who received a retention bonus worth more than $742,000 after taxes has resigned publicly -- in an Op-Ed column in the New York Times.

Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president at AIG’s Financial Products division, said Wednesday that he was leaving the company and would donate his entire bonus to charity. The column, a letter addressed to AIG Chief Executive Edward M. Liddy, criticized Liddy for agreeing to the bonuses but then calling them “distasteful” as he testified before disapproving members of Congress.

“We in the financial products unit have been betrayed by AIG and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials,” DeSantis wrote.