DealZone

Robert Benmosche, the new CEO of AIG, tells us he regrets tough comments he made about New York’s attorney general, explaining that he was trying to bolster a demoralized AIG work force. “You can characterize me as a goon or you can characterize me as somebody who is attempting to deal with a complex issue of a very demoralized employee force and said those things to them in confidence to reassure them that they no longer have to be afraid that they are going to be attacked again,” Benmosche told Adam Tanner in an interview.

During a closed-door staff meeting in Houston, Texas, last month, Benmosche said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo “doesn’t deserve to be in government” and had acted like a “criminal.” Cuomo’s office declined to comment on the matter.

Given the poisoned chalice the stewardship of AIG has been for his predecessors, Benmosche may be taking the only tack available. The former CEO of MetLife and native New Yorker, who prides himself on a reputation for toughness, did try to couch his comments somewhat, saying from his Croatian villa that “one should not assume that my aggressiveness is disrespect.”

While the New York AG or another, higher official might not call for his head, it’s hard to imagine such insults being tolerated for very long.

Dan Primack is the editor of peHUB, a Thomson Reuters publication.

The New York State Pension Fund kickback scandal is making new headlines. The Wall Street Journal reported that Steven Rattner, the head of the Obama administratino’s auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments that are under scrutiny, citing a person familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a criminal complaint against Raymond Harding, former chair of New York’s Liberal Party, for scheming with the already-indicted David Loglisci and Hank Morris. Cuomo also coaxed a guilty plea and financial remuneration out of Barrett Wissman, a crooked former hedge fund manager.

All of this got me to thinking more about the issue of raising fund capital from public pension systems, a process that often is just begging to be corrupted. Inexperienced and smaller general partners (GPs) can have real difficulty getting in front of a pension system’s investment staff, because there is rarely a transparent or streamlined process.