Treasury announces sales of Citigroup shares

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government says it is starting to sell off $2.2 billion in trust preferred shares it holds in Citigroup, another move to recoup the costs incurred in the $700 billion financial bailout.

The Treasury Department says it will start the sales Wednesday with the amount sold to be determined by market conditions.

The $2.2 billion in trust preferred shares were received by the government as part of Treasury's agreement in January 2009 to share potential losses on a pool of $301 billion of assets held by Citigroup.