The chief executive of troubled American International Group (AIG) on Wednesday appealed to his employees to voluntarily return at least half of $165 million in bonuses the insurance giant distributed over the weekend. Testifying before a House of Representatives subcommittee, Edward Liddy said that some workers already had indicated they would give the money back. The company is at the center of a political firestorm after the recent disclosure that it had paid the “retention bonuses” to its employees at the same time it was accepting $175 billion in rescue money from U.S. taxpayers. Many of the payments were made to the same executives and traders whose risky financial actions caused the company's near collapse.
