Ex-AIG chief Greenberg takes the Fifth

[UpInArms]

Source: Fortune 500

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the legendary former chief executive of AIG, declined to answer questions Saturday from the New York Attorney General's office about his role in a controversial transaction between AIG and another insurer. Instead, Greenberg invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, his defense lawyer confirmed.

Questions about the deal led to Greenberg's forced retirement from the once-mighty insurance giant three years ago. Since 2005, lawyers on Greenberg's civil defense team had insisted that their client was eager to testify about the transaction, a reinsurance deal that AIG made with Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKB) Gen Re unit.

They said repeatedly that as long as he was provided with the full results of AIG's internal investigation of the deal - which he eventually was - he would answer all of state regulators' questions.

Greenberg's chance to testify finally came on Saturday, but he declined. It was a stunning turnaround for a man who has spent just shy of a quarter of a billion dollars to tell his side of the story and clear his name.

The questions involved Greenberg's role in a phony $500 million reinsurance transaction with General Re that masked a problem with AIG's loss reserves. The transaction generated intense regulatory scrutiny and resulted in then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer suing Greenberg and his former chief financial officer Howard Smith for civil fraud. The civil case is now being pursued by Spitzer's successor, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/15/news/companies/greenbergfifth_boydband.fortune/index.htm

---

this POS should just go and jump from a window in classic style - otherwise he is just another mouth breather that should (in TD's imitable style) DIAF

[Robbien]

1. taking the fifth?

Guilty.


The arrogance of the man is astounding. Per article:

Greenberg, before AIG shares collapsed after a government-mandated $85 billion bailout, was willing to pay at least $100 million to put the matter behind him, but he refused to agree to allow the payments to be described as a penalty or fine and wanted to have a say in how the money would spent, according to people familiar with the negotiations.


Greenberg telling the DoJ how penalties should be spent? Gah!

[redqueen]

4. Is it arrogance, or is that kind of deal customary among the powerful?

Or am I being too cynical?

[bean fidhleir]

10. "No matter how cynical I get, it's never enough"

When something rarely even appears to happen, is "customary" an appropriate word? I'm thinking of the fact that wealthy malefactors rarely have anything happen to them, but if they do it's never characterized as a penalty for criminal activity. So do we use "customary" because they're almost never called criminals, or avoid the word because even a nominal wrist-slap rarely happens?

[redqueen]

11. I thought white-collar criminals got large fines all the time...

:shrug:

[bean fidhleir]

13. Never enough to deter them, though, are they?

[redqueen]

14. Hah... of course not! Cost of doing business, right?

When the score is more than the fine... well... crime pays, doesn't it?

[bean fidhleir]

15. I always wonder whether keeping a straight face isn't the chief skill of a pol

You'd think the strain of holding in their laughter would put more of them into hospital.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Slap the cuffs on the thief

We need to restore confidence in the Markets - put the thieves in jail

[gratuitous]

3. Didn't we the people just buy AIG?

Mr. Greenberg, we're your bosses now. And everyone knows that you have to answer to the boss. We own your pissant little company, we control your pension and severance, and we want some fucking answers, you goddam toad.

[razors edge]

5. He can have the fifth,

after I empty the first four chambers.

One can dream.:evilgrin:

[seemslikeadream]

6. AIG

[Trillo]

7. Not just another Liar.

A highly paid liar. These are the people who buy our government.

So why do we punish kids in school for lying? Please, somebody tell me. Why?

[Wapsie B]

8. Capital punishment in cases such as this is more than warranted.

Let's see if it really is a deterrent.

[leftchick]

9. friends with kissinger?

:puke:

In 1962, Greenberg was named by AIG's founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, as the head of AIG's failing North American holdings. In 1968, Starr picked Greenberg as his successor. Greenberg held the position until 2005, when he stepped down and was replaced by Martin J. Sullivan.

Greenberg was both a social friend and client of Henry Kissinger, utilising his consultancy, Kissinger Associates, for advice and operations in a number of countries, particularly in Asia. In 1987 he appointed Kissinger as chairman of AIG's International Advisory Board.<1>

He is married and has four children. He is the father of Jeffrey W. Greenberg, former chairman and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) before he was ousted, and of Evan G. Greenberg, president and CEO of ACE Limited. Together, he and his sons controlled a major portion of the insurance industry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_R._Greenberg

[cosmicdot]

17. they both head up the Nixon Center's Board

one of Hank's sons, Evan, is involved with the Nixon Center, too, on the Advisory Council, whatever that does (also, a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations) ... Evan is the President and CEO of ACE Limited, located in Bermuda. Brother Jeffrey (also member of CFR; Daddy is Director Emeritus and Honorary Vice Chairman of CFR) was CEO of Marsh & McLennan, a firm charged with rigging, and as part of a lucrative kick-back scheme, "stifling competition" according to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. (wiki).

http://web.archive.org/web/20050205063607/www.nixoncenter.org/boardac.htm

note Conrad Black is/was on the Board, too

birds of a feather, etc.
thick as thieves ... literally ...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACE_Limited
ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE is a property & casualty insurer incorporated in Zurich, Switzerland. Prior to a July 2008 re-domestication, the company had been incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

what choice locations ... Switzerland, Caymans, Bermuda ....

[Haole Girl]

12. What else would you expect from a liar?

:grr:

[tbyg52]

16. Can we get our money back now? nt

[Snazzy]

18. Maurice

Pretty good write-up on alternet, the BFEE connections runneth deep:

The Fall of a Titan
By Lucy Komisar, AlterNet
Posted on March 17, 2005, Printed on October 16, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/21517/
Given his economic and political power, the fall of Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the 59th richest man in America and CEO of the American International Group (AIG), the world's second-largest financial conglomerate (after Citigroup), is stunning.

Greenberg's net worth is $3.2 billion; he is the ninth-largest holder of AIG stock, with a $2.7 billion stake. Greenberg is a director and honorary vice chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, where his portrait hangs in the elegant "Rockefeller Room." A deep-pocketed Republican, he was on the short list for CIA director in 1995 after James Woolsey resigned in the wake of the Ames scandal.

Balding and short, Greenberg, 79, looks more like a munchkin than a spy chief. Perhaps in quest of a different image, in his youth he adopted the nickname "Hank," after the baseball player. But he conjures up Napoleon more than the other Hank: the only relation to his namesake is a reputation for playing hardball.

Greenberg was elected AIG President in 1962, CEO in 1967 and Chairman in 1989. Henry Kissinger is chair of AIG's international advisory committee, and board members include Barber Conable, former congressman and president of the World Bank, Carla Hills, former trade representative, and Richard Holbrooke, former UN ambassador.

....

http://www.alternet.org/story/21517/