Lawmaker presses NY Fed on AIG payment details

Lawmaker presses NY Fed on AIG payment details: "Lawmaker presses NY Fed on AIG payment details
David Lawder
Reuters
Monday , January 11th, 2010

A U.S. lawmaker said on Sunday he is seeking more information from the New York Federal Reserve Bank about its controversial emails on insurer AIG’s bailout, saying he was shocked that the disclosures were never brought to then-bank president Timothy Geithner’s attention.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who last week distributed email exchanges over AIG’s decision not to disclose specific payments to banks in a December 24, 2008 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, released a letter from the New York Fed responding to the controversy.

In the letter, New York Fed general counsel Thomas Baxter said Geithner, now U.S. Treasury Secretary, had no involvement in the deliberations about the disclosures — consistent with statements he made last week.

“In my judgment, as the New York Fed’s chief legal officer, disclosure matters of this nature did not warrant the attention of the president,” Baxter wrote in the letter dated Friday. “Further, Mr. Geithner played no role in, and had no knowledge of, the disclosure deliberations and communications referenced in those emails,” Baxter wrote.

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