Printer Friendly PageCitigroup Inc. (NYSE symbol: C)
October 23, 2002
Sandy Weill Memo to Employees re: Oct. 23rd Wall Street Journal Story
Today’s Wall Street Journal carries a story that contains outrageous speculation and wild inferences. I would like to provide you with some important facts.
As part of our ongoing cooperation with the various regulatory inquiries, I fully expected that the New York State Attorney General and other regulators would want to hear from me personally. Accordingly, I volunteered to testify in order to help bring their investigations to conclusion. In that connection, I sought the advice of my longtime friend and advisor Marty Lipton, whose firm had previously been retained to provide advice on issues facing the corporate and investment bank.
The article speculates, based on unnamed sources, that my retention of separate counsel is an indication that my and the company’s interests may have diverged and that the Attorney General may be considering legal action. On this point, Marty Lipton provided a strong response: "The notion that there could be any charge against Sandy Weill is inconceivable. There is no divergence between the interests of Sandy and Citigroup."
The Board has been kept fully informed as the investigations have progressed and is fully supportive of my decision to testify.
On the broader issues, let me restate that I have never told any analyst what he or she had to write — and I never would. My conduct has been entirely appropriate and proper.
As you know there have been serious issues raised that have challenged our industry and we remain committed to being a leader and moving as quickly as possible to resolve these matters and raise the standards in our industry.
I hope this clarifies matters. We will keep you informed.
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