Bonusgate
Edward Liddy came out of retirement for the grand salary of $1 per year as CEO just in time to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in previously planned bonuses for executives in AIG's financial-products division — the same division narrowly kept afloat by $170 billion from U.S. taxpayers. In failing to investigate or renegotiate the bonuses, Liddy brought both himself and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner under fire, in a bonus scandal that enraged Congress and the American public alike. The nation's top bankers have come under fire several times in Congress' efforts to right the financial meltdown or at least find someone to blame for the system's hiccups. Four top CEOs were met with harsh words in January when they testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the congressional committee charged with getting to the bottom of the financial debacle.