AIG connections return to haunt Senator and his wife
Senator Christopher Clegg (Democrat, Connecticut) and his wife Jackie Clegg Dodd have been benefiting from their connections to under fire insurance giant American Insurance Group (AIG), according to a US independent political website.
AIG came in for criticism over huge bonuses paid out to its staff in the midst of the economic crisis and Sen. Dodd made an amendment ratifying the move last month, said the Real Clear Politics website.
It has since been revealed that Sen. Dodd has been one of the insurer's favourite recipients of campaign contributions, while his wife served as an "outside" director of Bermuda-based IPC Holdings Ltd. between 2001 and 2004.
This follows a report in The Sunday Times last week which claimed that Lord Myners, a UK Government minister in charge of stamping out corporate tax avoidance, was part-time chairman of an Bermuda-based company Aspen Insurance Holdings, which it said avoided more than £100 million a year in taxes.
In 2001, in addition to a public offering of 15 million shares of stock that raised $380 million, IPC raised more than $109 million through a simultaneous private placement sale of 5.6 million shares of stock to AIG - giving AIG a 20 percent stake in IPC, with AIG selling its 13.397 million shares in IPC in August 2006.
Mrs. Clegg was compensated for her duties to IPC, which was managed by a subsidiary of AIG, said Real Clear Politics. In 2003, according to a proxy statement, Mrs. Clegg received $12,000 per year and an additional $1,000 for each directors' and committee meeting she attended, while also serving on the audit and investment committees during her final year on the board, it claimed.
The website said that IPC paid millions each year to other AIG-related companies for administrative and other services, while Mrs. Clegg was a diligent director, according to the proxy statement report in 2003, she attended more than 75 percent of board and committee meetings at the same time as serving as the managing partner of Clegg International Consultants LLC, which she created in 2001.
