Eliot Spitzer, lawyer, politician and governor of New York, has for the last few years been the most feared man in the insurance business. He's now setting his sights on the aviation industry and I'd suggest it ought to be quaking in its boots.
In 2005 executives from insurers AIG and insurance brokers Marsh ended up in prison for fraud after he exposed them for their roles in a massive bid rigging scheme that defrauded clients of millions of dollars.
The executives told their clients that they obtained bids for their business from insurance companies in an open and competitive bidding process. In fact, defendants had rigged the process in a number of ways.
Spitzer signed an airline passenger bill of rights at the beginning of August which requires that all airlines operating out of New York airports provide passengers with basic services such as food, water, fresh air, power, and working restrooms on any flight that has left the gate and been on the tarmac for more than three hours. The law also gives consumer protection guidelines.
Having previously worked in insurance, I would imagine its veterans would warn those in the aviation industry to watch their back. Spitzer may well start out with this measure but he may decide to investigate the way airlines are run.
Spitzer is said to "boil things down" and "is an extremely impatient man, to put it mildly.”
His critics say he prosecuted corporate crime to achieve higher office. Maybe so, but if he gets to the bottom of something, surely that's a fair reward.
I wonder what scandals could unfold in the aviation industry under his scrutiny?
on September 4, 2007 7:15 PM | Reply
Perhaps he will kick Delta out of New York JFK for gridlocking the airport, limit regional jets into downstate NY airspace and expand rail service in New York.