Obama's Pay Czar Concerned Firms Could Lose Talent

DANIEL WAGNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's pay czar said Thursday that he is "very concerned" about scaring away top talent at seven firms that took the biggest bailouts.

"The determinations I render I design first and foremost to make sure those companies thrive and that the taxpayers get their money back," said Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department's special master for executive compensation.

Feinberg spoke following reports that American International Group Inc. CEO Robert Benmosche was threatening to leave after chafing under Feinberg's oversight of pay at the firm. Benmosche said Wednesday he was frustrated but planned to stay on.

Feinberg didn't learn about Benmosche's purported threats to leave the company until reading those news reports, he told reporters after his speech.

But he said Benmosche had told him that Feinberg's pay rules for the 25 highest-earning employees would cause key personnel to leave, making it difficult for the company to return its taxpayer bailouts.

New York-based AIG received an aid package worth up to $180 billion from the government in exchange for a roughly 80 percent stake in the company. That bailout package also includes restrictions on compensation for the insurer's 100 highest-paid employees.