Greenberg Clams Up At Inquiry, Transfers Stock

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, April 12, 4:25 p.m. EDT?Former American International Group Chief Executive Maurice Greenberg invoked his right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions about his company's accounting today, his legal team said.[@@]

Mr. Greenberg's appearance for a deposition at the New York Attorney General's Office, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment, was said to take less than an hour.

Meanwhile, a Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is also investigating Mr. Greenberg, revealed that he had transferred $2.6 billion worth of A.I.G. stock to his wife Corinne P. Greenberg three days before his March 14 resignation as CEO.

His attorney, David Boies, had announced yesterday that he would not be answering questions, saying that the Attorney General's Office had not given him enough time to prepare for questions that dealt with AIG.

According to statements by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, investigators in part are looking into offshore entities created by AIG that they suspect were fraudulent.

The probe is also looking at an AIG deal involving a finite reinsurance arrangement with GenRe, the subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway--headed by Warren Buffet, who testified yesterday.

Mr. Spitzer said Sunday in a televised ABC interview that evidence is "overwhelming these were transactions created for the purpose of deceiving the market. We call that fraud."

Mr. Boies complained in a commentary in The Wall Street Journal today that his client risked "being set up" by open-ended questioning, and that the questioning procedure did not allow objections from his attorneys and did not permit them to record his testimony or obtain a transcript.

Mr. Greenberg's stock transfer to his wife involved a gift of 41,399,802 shares, which have since declined in value. The filing explained that Mr. Greenberg is in charge of trusts for the benefit of children and grandchildren. It states that he "disclaims the beneficial owership of, and any pecuniary interest in, the shares of AIG common stock held by these trusts and by his wife.

The filing also explains that Mr. Greenberg holds 17 percent of the common stock of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. the Bermuda based company that holds an interest in AIG. According to the filing, Mr. Greenberg disclaims the beneficial ownership of, and any monetary interest in the share of AIG stock held by Starr.

Updated 9:58 a.m. 4/13

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Greenberg Clams Up At Inquiry, Transfers Stock

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