By any other name, it's fraud and corruption

Former AIG chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg (Choi Jae-Ku/AFP/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Times is running a series on how AIG helped bring the U.S. financial system to its knees.

Part 1, "Bold innovators led AIG's stunning rise," is here. Money quote:

"... they would watch in disbelief as their creation -- by then in the hands of others -- led to the most costly rescue of a private company in U.S. history, triggering a federal investigation and making AIG synonymous not with safety and security but with risk and ruin."

Part 2, "Complex deals veiled risk for AIG," is here. Money quote:

"Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, argued forcefully for a public debate about whether derivatives posed a risk to the financial system. She testified at least 17 times before Congress on the subject. [Emphasis ours.] Her campaign gained no traction. More powerful regulators, including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, opposed Born."

Part 3, "Credit rating downgrade, real estate collapse crippled AIG," is here. Money quote:

"'It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing $1 in any of those transactions,' [then AIG President Joseph] Cassano said."