The best an the brightest

Via Talking Points Memo I've been reading Joseph St. Denis's response to congressional inquiries about the shenanigans in A.I.G.'s financial products division. Joseph St. Denis was the chief accountant of the division, and resigned in September 2007 because he had been denied access to the process by which the firm's super credit default swaps were valuated. TPM is all over this story, but here's a snippet from the letter that jumped out at me:

This was the first time Mr. Cassano had expressed criticism of any of my close working relationships with FSD or OAP. As previously noted, during my evaluation with Mi. Cassano in June of 2007 two months earlier, Mr. Cassano had told me that I was "doing a great job," and that I should "work closely with [AIG]." He also volunteered during this meeting in June 2007,which was also attended by William Kolbert, that he had "no desire to be promoted, because it would separate [him] from the money," and that AIG's corporate management was "scared to death" of him'