Final,” Fair Disclosure Wire, December 5, 2007.
161 In 2007 one of its biggest clients, Goldman Sachs, demanded: Serena Ng, “Goldman Confirms $6 Billion AIG Bets,”
161 “It means the market’s a little screwed up”: AIG investor meeting, Fair Disclosure Wire, December 5, 2007.
161 “We have, from time to time, gotten collateral calls from people”: Ibid.
162 Greenberg’s forced resignation, Spitzer’s criminal threat: According to the
162 AIG’s $500 million boost: James Bandler, “Hank ’s Last Stand,”
162 He immediately contacted PricewaterhouseCoopers: Theo Francis and Diya Gullapalli, “Insurance Hazard: Pricewaterhouse’s Squeeze Play,”
164 consulting contract, at the rate of $1 million a month: Gretchen Morgenson
164 a $7.8 billion loss: Liam Pleven, “AIG Posts Record Loss, As Crisis Continues Taking Toll,”
164 International Lease Finance Corp. was pushing for a split: J. Lynn Lunsford and Liam Pleven, “AIG Leasing Unit Mulls Split-Up,”
164 “I am as concerned as millions of other investors”: Liam Pleven and Randall Smith, “Financial Rebels with a Cause: AIG—Hank Greenberg, Who Built the Giant Insurer, Steps Up His Attack,”
165 “steps that can be taken to improve”: Liam Pleven and Randall Smith, “Big Shareholders Rebel at AIG— Letter to the Board Cites Problems with Senior Management,”
165 to meet with the three investors: Ibid. Francesco Guerrera and Julie MacIntosh, “AIG removes Sullivan as chief executive,”
165 The company had paid Manchester United $100 million: “Manchester United Signs Shirt Deal with American Insurance Giant,” Associated Press, April 6, 2006.
166 “AIG Offers Empathy, Little Else”: Liam Pleven and Randall Smith, “AIG Offers Empathy, Little Else—Some Shareholders Left Wanting More After Insurer’s Slips,”
166 an additional $10 billion in new collateral: Randall Smith, Amir Efrati, and Liam Pleven, “AIG Group Tied to Swaps Draws Focus of Probes,”
167 The two men agreed to have dinner together: Liam Pleven, “Two Financial Titans Put on Best Face,”
CHAPTER NINE
168 Oil, most crucially, was going for $140 a barrel: A record for oil futures in Russia, this price was predicted to rise—and it did—hitting $147 in July. “Russia’s Crude Money Box,”
168 Russia was pumping out millions of barrels a day: The International Energy Agency said that as of June 11, 2008, Russia was producing 9.5 million barrels of oil per day. Jason Bush, “Prime Minister Putin Primes the Pump,”
169 who had coined the appellation for those four economies: Goldman’s chief economist Jim O’Neill, leading a team from the firm, created the acronym in 2001, when they were making growth predictions about the four emerging markets. See Dominic Elliott, “Fundamentals Drive the ‘BRIC’ Rebound,”
169 defaulting on the nation’s debt: “On August 13, with dollars fleeing the country, its reserves dwindling, its budget overtapped, and the price of oil, its chief commodity, down 33 percent, the government imposed controls on the ruble.” Lowenstein,
169 Long-Term Capital Management: Ibid.
169 “I really think we are a little better”: Bethany McLean, “The Man Who Must Keep Goldman Growing,”
170 They had bet against something called the ABX Index: Chris Blackhurst, “The Credit Crunch Genius Who Masterminded a ?2 billion Jackpot,”
170 “I don’t speak Russian”: Ellis,
170 Yeltsin’s new government named the firm its banking adviser: “Russia Hires Goldman Sachs as Adviser,”
170 Goldman pulled out of the country in 1994 but would eventually return: Joseph Kahn and Timothy L. O’Brien, “For Russia and Its U.S. Bankers, Match Wasn’t Made in Heaven,”
170 Adolf Hitler had planned to hold his victory celebration there: Hitler had chosen Astoria’s Winter Garden ballroom for his victory ball, scheduled for November 7, 1941, but Germany’s summer invasion of the Soviet Union
