American International Group Inc. this week defended itself against claims that its meetings are wasteful. Under fire is an event at a luxury resort in Phoenix occurring around the same time the U.S. government announced details of an enormous, restructured bailout plan. This follows accusations that AIG, one of the world's largest insurers, held lavish events immediately following the first federal bailout package, crafted in October. After those reports surfaced, AIG chairman and CEO Edward Liddy on Oct. 10 issued a directive calling for the cancellation of "all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead." Since then, AIG cancelled 160 events, Liddy claimed, and he appeared on CNN's
Larry King Live on Tuesday.
When asked by
Larry King (transcript here) if he knew the Phoenix event would "create a public uproar," Liddy said, "We thought that there was a good chance that it would be received poorly.
