December 11, 2012 – By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
The U.S. Treasury said it is selling the rest of its stake in American International Group Inc., in effect closing the books on one of the biggest and most reviled bailouts of the financial crisis that engulfed the world four years ago.
The sale of the Treasury Department‘s remaining 234 million shares in an offering announced Monday would wipe out the government’s 15.9% stake and pad the $15.1-billion profit it has made already from the giant New York insurer.
The Treasury Department still would hold an undisclosed number of warrants in AIG, but taxpayers no longer would own a piece of a company that came to symbolize Wall Street’s wild risk-taking during the subprime housing boom.
“In some ways, the AIG collapse was emblematic of the reckless and the deregulatory atmosphere that led up to the crisis,” said Phil Angelides, who headed the government commission that investigated the causes of the crisis.
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Phil Angelides 