“The Federal Reserve gave just five banks the chance to bid on $6.2 billion in taxpayer-owned AIG assets before selling them to Goldman Sachs on Wednesday.”

“The Fed allowed Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Credit Suisse, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Morgan Stanley to participate in the auction, according to a New York Fed statement. Reports of the auction leaked just days before the Federal Reserve announced the sale.”

“Some investors told Bloomberg News that the Fed’s decision to keep the auction secret was unfair to both investors and taxpayers. They said that if the bank had allowed the free market to set the price for the assets, the sale would have earned taxpayers more money.”

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