Bermuda Ties ‘Irreparably Damaged’ Dodd

Ethics charges which prompted Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd  not to seek re-election — particularly ties he and his wife had to American International Group operations in Bermuda – illustrate why the US political response to the need for market regulatory reform has been so lacklustre, said a leading global economics commentator.

Writing in the “Asia Times”, Henry C.K. Liu — a former Harvard and Columbia University professor and now the chairman of a New York-based private investment group — says Sen. Dodd chose not to run for a sixth six-year term in the November, 2010 elections because ”his campaign war chests had been heavily funded by the financial services industry – which was regulated by committees Dodd either chaired or sat on in the Senate for decades.”

“Dodd’s reputation was irreparably damaged from an amendment he introduced to US economic stimulus bill in February 2009 ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to top executives at AIG executives at a time when the beleaguered company was receiving billions of dollars in government bailouts,” says Mr. Liu. “AIG has had a major off-shore presence in Bermuda for more than 50 years and aside from its main operation on Richmond Road, Pembroke, operates a number of Bermuda-based subsidiaries.

“On YouTube, one can watch the short clips, recorded in March 2009, of Dodd caught in stark prevarications over his role in protecting $165 million in bonuses for his generous friends at financial giant and crisis albatross AIG. Over the course of two interviews given within 24 hours on CNN, Dodd first denied with his trademark vehemence that he had anything to do with inserting a section into the February 2009 stimulus bill that allowed AIG executives to keep their staggering bonuses granted by a company that required nearly $100 billion in government rescue with taxpayer money.

“Because of ethics issues involving Dodd’s role in senate committees that regulated the financial services sector, particularly over his controversial financial ties to AIG and its one-time Bermuda affiliate, IPC Holdings Ltd, his election chances were so damaged that Dodd decided not to seek re-election in 2010.”

The former Senator received more than $280,000 in campaign contributions from re/insurance giant AIG and his wife at one time sat on the board of a Bermuda subsidiary of the firm. Mr. Dodd left office in January, 2011 free from investigations or prosecution.

#AmericanPoliticians #AmericanRelations #BermudaBusiness #BermudaInsurance

Category: All, Business