Joe Cassano is not apologizing to anyone. The former AIG executive who helped bring the world economy tumbling down says he did nothing wrong. His underwriting standards never changed: he never saw any risk in underwriting those collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). And if AIG leadership had had the cojones to keep him on board after the proverbial waste matter hit the fan, he would have cut the tax payers a better deal. He would have stuck it to the financial institutions that AIG was so anxious to insure. You want tough – Joe will show you tough!
Joe has avoided an indictment (he walks), and now he testifies (he talks). In his own not-so-humble opinion, he is blameless in the collapse of the worlds’s largest insurer. When the final story is written about AIG, it will confirm what we have suspected all along: Cassano is not too bright. Tough, yes. Greedy, yes. Arrogant, for sure. A leader of men (and women, only because he has to), not so much. Self-aware and reflective: you gotta be kidding.
In Search of Leadership
When the great men and women of the revolution founded this country, they wanted freedom from tyranny. I imagine they also envisioned generation after generation of principled leaders to further their original goals. It’s highly unlikely that Joe Cassano is what they had in mind.
As we approach the nation’s birthday this weekend, let’s (somewhat arbitrarily) shift our focus to a real leader: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the prodigiously gifted general whose improvisation on Little Round Top turned the tide in the civil war. The Washington Post is running a series on leadership; here is their (video) take on Chamberlain’s actions at Gettysburg.
The Insider extends to all our readers the wish for a fine holiday break. Amid the fireworks and family outings, pause for a moment in gratitude to those who brought us to this moment. In times of great need, great leaders have often emerged. Who knows, perhaps the same will eventually be said of these challenging times.
Posts Tagged ‘Joe Cassano’
Joe Cassano and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: Take Your Pick
Thursday, July 1st, 2010Cassano Walks
Monday, May 24th, 2010Joe Cassano, the man who brought insurance giant AIG – and the world economy – to their knees, has dodged the proverbial bullet: he will not be indicted for his actions in the collapse of AIG’s Financial Products unit, which he ran until his resignation in 2008. Federal prosecutors searched diligently for evidence of wrong doing. What they found, however, was evidence of cluelessness. Joe Cassano was no crook: he was just a manager in way over his head. He apparently believed that underwriting credit default swaps was relatively risk free. Oh, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
If no good deed goes unpunished, incompetence on a cosmic level is not without its rewards: Cassano made about $280 million in eight years of running the FP unit, in addition to receiving a performance bonus of $35 million in his final year with the company. That last payment truly boggles the mind. Cassano was paid for high volume sales of a product that destroyed his company.
Joe Warin and Jim Walden, Cassano’s (presumably high paid) attorneys were delighted with the outcome of the investigation:
Although a two-year, intense investigation is tough for anyone, the results are wholly appropriate in light of our client’s factual innocence. This result was the product of two things: an innocent client and fair prosecutors and agents. The system worked.
It would be more accurate to say that the system was worked. As was evident in a prior blog, Cassano was not a nice guy who happened to make a mistake. He was a thug dressed up in a fancy suit. Perhaps on some level it’s reassuring that his actions were not criminal, that he acted in the expectation that his company would make money. Cassano certainly made an obscene amount of money, but AIG rank and file, the shareholders and the tax payers have to foot the bill for the mistakes of one greedy goon.
