Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, announced his co-sponsorship of the End GREED Act, which would authorize the U.S Attorney General to recover bonuses paid to A.I.G. executives. This timely and important bill was favorably reported out of the Judiciary Committee today by Chairman Conyers, Nadler and other Judiciary Democrats, and the bill may soon be considered on the House floor. Rep. Nadler shares Americans’ feelings of anger at the exorbitant bonuses given to A.I.G. employees after that company had run itself into the ground and required a bailout of $170 billion in federal largesse.

“A.I.G.’s irresponsible decision to pay huge bonuses to its undeserving executives is outrageous,” said Rep. Nadler. “This money belongs to the taxpayers. It is not a slush-fund for the enrichment of the very malefactors who created this mess. This bill provides a solid, time tested legal basis to ensure that the public’s money is used for the public’s benefit and only for the public’s benefit.”

The following is Rep. Nadler’s opening statement on the bill:

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

“This legislation to recover the notorious bonuses so outrageously paid to A.I.G. executives relies on fraudulent conveyance law, which is far from novel, and which is the law in all 50 states. It is already found in the Bankruptcy Code. The basic premise behind fraudulent conveyance laws is that there must be a legal remedy when money has been misappropriated, so that it may be returned to its rightful owner. If there was ever an example of fraudulent conveyance, this is surely it. These so-called retention payments are particularly ludicrous, not to mention fraudulent, when 11 of the people who received the bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at A.I.G.

“This money belongs to the taxpayers and was provided to A.I.G. and to a number of other insolvent institutions for the sole purpose of stabilizing our financial system and protecting our economy. It is not a slush-fund for the enrichment of the very malefactors who created this mess. Giving that money to them is a clear misappropriation of the public’s money, and this bill provides a time-tested, well understood and legally sound remedy.

“This bill does not apply only to a group of people at A.I.G. It is written broadly to deal with the more general problem of using the taxpayers’ money to grant bonuses to enrich people on Wall Street. And I should point out – Wall Street is in my district, and some of these people are my constituents. I have nothing against them. They are entitled to earn a living, but this is not their money. They are not entitled to it.

“We need not have been in this predicament. When we were considering the TARP legislation, many of us insisted that the legislation specifically prohibit the payment of these bonuses at companies receiving public money. The Bush administration – Secretary Paulson – vigorously opposed that language. The compromise language we got was not air-tight and allowed Secretary Paulson to give away that money with no strings attached. Once again, we are left to clean up the mess.

“I don’t think any member of this Committee believes these bonuses were justified. It was not their money to give in the first place. I hope no member of this Committee believes this as an appropriate use of taxpayer money. I hope that no member believes we should simply shrug our shoulders, walk away, and do nothing to right this wrong.

“This bill provides a solid, time tested legal basis to ensure that the public’s money is used for the public’s benefit and only for the public’s benefit. I urge all my colleagues to support it.”