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AIG ex-boss faces shares grab claim
Bill Condie, Evening Standard28 Mar 2008
Giant insurer American International Group is suing Hank Greenberg, who led the company as chief executive for nearly four decades, claiming he "misappropriated" $20 billion (£10 billion) in company shares.
AIG says Greenberg and six other former executives, including ex-finance chief Howard Smith, took over stock held by an AIG affiliate, Starr International, or SICO, in 2005, seized control of the Starr board and made it their private investment vehicle.
"Greenberg engineered a coup d'état to usurp full control of SICO's board of directors," AIG said in a complaint filed to a New York court.
Greenberg was forced to retire from AIG in March 2005, two months before then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued him, accusing him of hiding losses and inflating reserves.
Spitzer later dropped some charges but others remain pending with Greenberg denying any wrongdoing.
He has also pressed to have another AIG claim dismissed.
