Surprise! No criminal charges for executives from AIG Financial Products division

The executives, who worked at a unit of AIG called Financial Products, were instrumental in designing complex contracts known as credit-default swaps. For a fee, the firm essentially would insure a company's corporate debt in case of default. The products were intended to be a money-maker for the firm and its parent company.

But the subsidiary's entry into credit-default swaps evolved into insuring more volatile forms of debt, including the mortgage-backed securities that helped fuel the real estate boom. The housing downturn exposed AIG to more than $500 billion in liabilities, threatening the financial stability of dozens of other financial institutions and prompting a massive government rescue in September 2008.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have committed up to $182 billion in TARP funds to ensure AIG's stability-- the most expensive bailout of a private company in U.S. history. As a result of the rescue, the government owns nearly 80 percent of the company. [WAPO]

So, after nearly bankrupting his employer and contributing to the greatest recession since the Great Depression, Joe Cassano, former sleaze-bag president of AIG's Financial Products Division, walks away scot-free with $300 million tucked away in his back pocket.