Responding to media reports criticizing it for participating in a sales meeting last week at a luxury resort in Phoenix, insurance giant American International Group Inc. (AIG) has issued a statement in which it says it has cancelled more than 160 events and approved just one—last week's meeting, which AIG Chairman and CEO Edward M. Liddy called an "essential" training seminar.

AIG originally came under fire in September, when it spent $440,000 on a week-long luxury retreat for its brokers at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., less than a week after receiving an $85 billion government loan. At that time, Liddy issued a statement in which he promised that AIG was "reevaluating the costs of all aspects of our operations in light of the new [economic] circumstances in which we are all operating."

On Monday, ABC News broke news of last week's Phoenix event—the same day that the U.S. government announced plans to restructure the economic bailout plan that Congress passed into law this fall, and to increase its aid to AIG by more than $50 billion, to approximately $150 billion.

Along with event sponsors, AIG insists, independent financial planners—not AIG employees, and not American taxpayers—paid more than 90 percent of costs for last week's event.

"Recent news reports have grossly mischaracterized an American International Group seminar for 150 independent financial planners held in Phoenix last week," Liddy said in a prepared statement. "It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG."

According to Liddy, AIG has canceled all "nonessential" meetings—presumably of large consequence to the hotels that were contracted to host them—and approved only events that will help the company generate revenue with which to repay its government loan.

Concluded Liddy: "On Oct. 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including canceling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my Oct. 10 directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer." This page is protected by Copyright laws. Do Not Copy