Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The insurance giant American International Group fired Qorvis Communications, the PR firm it had hired to help address New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's probe of the insurance industry. The firing (for being "unhelpful") happened the same day that a booking agency, at Qorvis' request, sent emails to financial commentators asking if they would consider being paid as much as $25,000 to help AIG by criticizing Spitzer's investigation. The emails suggested talking points, including that revamping "long-standing industry-wide practices is better left to regulators who understand the industry, rather than criminal investigators," and pitying the "individual investor" as an "innocent bystander" whose stocks are hurt by Spitzer's "theatrics."
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