New York Times… (see update)
Neil M. Barofsky is not a household name like some special investigators of the past — Kenneth Starr during the Clinton administration or Archibald Cox in the Watergate years.
But increasingly, Mr. Barofsky is setting off fireworks on Capitol Hill as he quietly and methodically pieces together the most complete historical record yet of the financial bailout. His reports are careful but not cautious, showing a willingness to stand up to some of the most powerful people and institutions in Washington or on Wall Street.
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UPDATE: American International Group Inc.’s sale of its Asian life-insurance business to Prudential PLC was well over a year in the making. For the government-controlled insurer, it was worth the wait.
Prudential chief Tidjane Thiam and AIG’s Robert Benmosche (inset) will on Tuesday begin meeting with the two companies’ staff about the deal.
The $35.5 billion deal announced Monday for American International Assurance Ltd., or AIA, as the unit is known, would be the largest insurance takeover on record, according to Thomson Reuters. It is at roughly twice the price Prudential and other firms were willing to pay for AIA during the depths of the financial crisis, when the business was put up for auction following the fall 2008 U.S. bailout of AIG, according to people familiar with the matter. At that time, AIG and its federal overseers decided to wait.