American International Group Inc. wants its money back, or at least some of it.
The federally bailed-out insurance behemoth, which has been under extraordinarily heavy criticism from President Obama, Congress, TV talk show hosts and just about the entire American public, sued the U.S. government to recoup some money. The money at issue is $306 million in tax payments, some involving offshore entities that AIG controlled.
Filing the complaint on behalf of AIG last month were ten Sutherland attorneys from Atlanta, New York and Washington. According to the federal court docket, the Sutherland lawyers handling the matter are partners Jerry Cohen, Tom Cullinan, Joe DePew, Kent Jones, Jerome Libin, Dan Schlueter and Lewis Wiener, and associates Julie Bowling, Larry Dany and Jeffrey Starkey. All of the attorneys are in Sutherland’s tax, tax litigation or litigation practice groups. Wiener is listed as the lead attorney on the complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The New York Times makes the observation that AIG is essentially suing its majority owner, since the U.S. government owns about 80 percent of AIG.
AIG says the U.S. government illegally assessed and collected from it $306,102,672 in income taxes, penalties, interest and additions.