Joseph J. "Joe" Cassano (born 12 March 1955) is an American insurance executive who was an officer at AIG Financial Products from the division's founding in 1987 until his resignation in February 2008. Cassano is considered a key figure in the financial crisis of 2007–2008.His employees characterized him as a "bully", and said that the culture of fear helped to create the downfall of AIG, as Cassano would often yell at employees who tried to warn him about the dangers of subprime bonds. AIG later suffered a $99 billion loss and got bailed out by the U.S. government. Political writer Matt Taibbi nicknamed him "Patient Zero of the global economic meltdown."
