Isn't this just wasting more bailout money for legal fees? Sit down, shut up, and enjoy the billions.
No. AIG and the IRS have a dispute over how much taxes the company owed in prior years. That's the type of thing that should get decided by the courts. Believe it or not, the IRS isn't always right on these matters.
And the board has a duty to its minority shareholders to get any overpaid taxes back. If Mr. X owns 80% of the company, and the company overpays Mr. X too much for something, Mr. X would be unjustly enriched and is effectively screwing the other 20% out of what should be their money. That Mr. X is the government here is irrelevant. The government bought this pile of crap instead of putting it into bankruptcy, as it should have.
But had Mr. X not bought 80% of this company they would not have the money to sue for this possible overpayment. They need to take a seat until they start paying us back.
That's irrelevant. Even a trustee in bankruptcy might have continued this suit, if it has merit.
And you can't just take a seat on a tax suit. Once the statute of limitations for the year has passed, you lose your right to sue.
And we can't just call it even? We payed them $170 billion and they want $300 million more? Why can't they just pretend that some of that bailout money was paying them back for the overtaxes?
It really is ridiculous that they are spending the money the government gave them to recover extra money they gave the government. Not to mention, who the hell is running their PR?
