I don't see how either what Goldman did or AIG did was fishy. I think the govt was stupid. The banks convinced the govt that they needed to bail them out right away and the govt did. The intention of bailing out AIG was to enable it to pay out on its obligations. AIG paid out on its obligations to Goldman. What is fishy about that. Should Goldman have refused to accept payment on of money that AIG owed it? The government should have forced AIG into bankruptcy and then it could have examined how to pay out to the AIGs creditors and counterparties. Alas the goverment did not do that.