Geithner’s phone logs count down AIG bailout
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner spoke with more than 30 business and political leaders on the day American International Group Inc. was bailed out by the U.S. government, his phone logs show.
At the time, Geithner ran the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which helped organize AIG’s rescue, on Sept. 16, 2008, when the calls took place. The logs were submitted by the New York Fed in response to a subpoena last week from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Among the chief executives Geithner spoke with by phone were Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Warren Buffett, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Lloyd Blankfein and Citigroup Inc.’s Vikram Pandit.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan tried unsuccessfully to arrange a loan to prop up AIG in 2008 before the insurer turned to the government for a bailout that swelled to $182.3 billion. Buffett has said he was also approached by New York-based AIG about an investment in the days before the government rescue.
“They needed more than we could supply by far,” Buffett said in an interview with Bloomberg Television last year. “I didn’t know the extent of it, but I knew that.”
Geithner, who became Treasury secretary in January 2009, also spoke 10 times each with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Henry Paulson, who was then Treasury secretary. At least three of the calls were conference calls with Bernanke and Paulson.
Two calls were with Christopher Cox, then chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Another call was with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.
Geithner’s logs also show calls on the day of the bailout with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.); Eric Dinallo, then New York state insurance superintendent; and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The last call is with Charles O’Byrne, then-chief of staff to New York Gov. David Paterson. The call before that was with AIG’s then-CEO, Robert Willumstad, who was ousted in connection with the bailout.
