Hank Greenberg Said to Face SEC Lawsuit After Role as AIG Chief

[Heidi]

Source: Bloomberg

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who led American International Group Inc. for 38 years until his ouster amid allegations of accounting fraud, may be sued by U.S. regulators after more than four years of investigation and a government bailout of the firm he built into the world’s largest insurer, people familiar with the matter said.

Greenberg, 84, may face civil legal claims from the Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as today, the people said, declining to be identified because the regulator’s plans haven’t been announced. John Nester, an SEC spokesman in Washington, declined to comment. A spokesman for Greenberg declined to comment and one of his lawyers said Greenberg was in Europe and couldn’t immediately be reached.

The former chairman and chief executive has been locked in legal battles since AIG’s board pushed him out in 2005 during a probe by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into reinsurance, the business of selling insurance to insurers. The company later restated $3.4 billion in earnings and in 2006 paid more than $1.6 billion to settle state and SEC claims it misled investors. Greenberg, a former U.S. Army captain and World War II combatant, has called much of the restatement unnecessary and pledged to contest claims that he engaged in misconduct.

Two months after his departure from New York-based AIG, Greenberg was sued by Spitzer and accused of ordering improper transactions to hide losses and inflate reserves. Spitzer dropped portions of the case in 2006. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo took over the suit when he assumed office in 2007.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ape...

[saigon68]

1. Well --What do you KNOW ?

in 2006 paid more than $1.6 billion to settle state and SEC claims it misled investors.

[pjt7]

2. Putting Greenberg in jail, is one of the only way's

the SEC can get back their respectability.

Thanks for posting this.

[pleah]

3. K&R

[ensho]

4. good

nt

[Heidi]

5. UPDATE: AIG’s Hank Greenberg Pays $15 Million to End SEC Suit

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who led American International Group Inc. for 38 years until his ouster amid state and federal accounting probes in 2005, will pay $15 million to settle U.S. claims he manipulated the insurer’s earnings.

Greenberg, 84, and former AIG Chief Financial Officer Howard Smith “directed several different accounting transactions to materially affect AIG’s reported financial results,” the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Manhattan. Smith will pay $1.5 million to resolve the suit.

“Corporate leaders cannot avoid the truth and consequences of their companies’ performance by using improper accounting gimmicks and signing off on distorted financial reports,” SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. The accounting deals “presented a false financial picture and allowed AIG to claim success in meeting its performance goals.”

The insurer’s former chairman and chief executive officer has been locked in legal battles since AIG’s board pushed him out in 2005 during a probe by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into reinsurance, the business of selling insurance to insurers. The company later restated $3.4 billion of earnings and in 2006 agreed to pay more than $1.6 billion to settle state and SEC claims it misled investors. Greenberg has called much of the restatement unnecessary.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=ar9...