Dear Mr. Liddy…
Rory Cooper /
Today, the New York Times published the resignation letter of Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit. In it, Mr. DeSantis describes government mismanagement, broken promises, and the tale of his own upbringing from humble roots. The letter clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of having the U.S. Congress as your new boss and the problems that go along with knee jerk reactions in Washington. We give it to you here, in its entirety.
DEAR Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.