Archive for June 19th, 2009
CEOs of Bailed-Out Banks Flew to Resorts on Firms’ Jets
From the Wall Street Journal
Some executives at banks propped up by government aid have retained a coveted perk: personal use of the company jet.
Flight records show numerous occasions when banks receiving federal money have flown their planes to destinations near resorts or executives’ vacation homes, including spots in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, south Florida and Aspen, Colo. In some cases, it’s clear that bank executives were traveling for personal reasons; for other flights, many of which were over weekends or holidays, the passengers and purpose couldn’t be established.
Regions Financial Corp. of Birmingham, Ala., received $3.5 billion from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, on Nov. 14. Twelve days later, the day before Thanksgiving, two Regions jets left Birmingham within minutes of each other, bound for a small airport in West Virginia.
The destination: the historic Greenbrier resort, where the bank’s chief executive, C. Dowd Ritter, and family members spent four nights over the holiday, according to a person familiar with his accommodations.