General Re Corporation announced today that Joseph Brandon,chairman and chief executive officer at the scandal-scarredcompany, has decided to resign effective immediately.

Mr. Brandon will be replaced by Franklin “Tad” Montross IV,president of General Re Corporation, the company said in astatement. Gen Re is a wholly owned subsidiary of BerkshireHathaway Inc.

The resignation announcement, which appeared on the BerkshireHathaway Web site, follows convictions of former top Gen Re CEORonald Ferguson and Christopher Garand, former Gen Re senior vicepresident, as well as an American International Group executiveearlier this month.

All were convicted of participation in a sham reinsurancetransaction designed to improperly bolster AIG's financialpicture.

Federal prosecutors said the verdict sent a strong message thatinvolvement in financial fraud schemes won't be tolerated. Mr.Brandon was not indicted in the case, but his name came uprepeatedly during testimony.

The government also listed other executives as unindictedco-conspirators, including Maurice Greenberg, former AIG chairmanand CEO, who left the company in 2005 when the case came underinvestigation and now heads C.V. Starr & Company.

A call to Berkshire Hathaway spokesman Marc D. Hamburg was notreturned. The office of Gen Re spokesman Berto Sciolla in Stamford,Conn., said it had no comment.

In reaction, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said itsratings on General Reinsurance Corp., “AAA Stable,” are unaffectedby Mr. Brandon's departure.

This article updated April 15, 8:57 a.m.