Businessmen leave an American International Group office building, Tuesday, September 16 in New York. AIG executives spent US$440,000 on a company retreat after government announced it would bailout the company.

The White House said on Wednesday it was "despicable" that American International Group Inc executives spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a posh California retreat just days after getting a federal bailout.

Lawmakers investigating the meltdown of AIG said the retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove the company under, but they were still enraged that executives of AIG's main United States life insurance subsidiary spent US$440,000 on the retreat, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings.

"It's pretty despicable," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

AIG sent its executives to the coastal St Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an US$85 billion loan from the government that it needed to stave off bankruptcy.

Resort cost

The resort tab included US$23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Govern-ment Reform Committee.

"The president did not want to move forward on this rescue package to help anybody in the top positions on Wall Street," Perino said. "He was concerned about everyday people like you and me. ... He didn't do that to help top executives and certainly not to help executives go to a spa."

- AP