Greenberg Says He Will Take The Fifth

Greenberg Says He Will Take The Fifth

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, April 11, 4:09 p.m. EDT?Former American International Group kingpin Maurice Greenberg will invoke his right against self-incrimination when investigators ask about accounting activity at AIG that goes back decades, he announced today.[@@]

His decision, which had been leaked to various publications several weeks ago, was announced by his attorney David Boies, who revealed that the investigation by the New York Attorney General and Securities and Exchange Commission is so wide ranging that boxes of documents are involved.

Mr. Boies said that based on his advice and that of other attorneys advising the former AIG chairman and chief executive officer, Mr. Greenberg would decline to answer questions.

Spokesman Howard Opinsky, senior vice president with the Powell Tate/Weber Shandwick public relations firm in Washington, D.C., representing Mr. Greenberg, said this meant he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.

According to Mr. Boies, "the great number of transactions under inquiry, the thousands of documents relevant to these transactions to which Mr. Greenberg has not yet been given access, and the fact that many of these transactions took place from five to 20 years ago, have precluded Mr. Greenberg from adequately preparing for this testimony at this time."

He said that all requests by Mr. Greenberg to adjourn the April 12 subpoena date to give him reasonable time to prepare have been denied.

Mr. Greenberg's attorneys, Mr. Boies reported, unanimously advised him that under the circumstances he should respectfully decline to testify until all relevant documents have been provided to him and he is fully prepared.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's spokesman, Brad Maione, said there would be no response to Mr. Greenberg's statement.

In addition to the remarks from Mr. Boies, Mr. Greenberg released his own comment saying he had "devoted my life" to building AIG.

He quit as CEO on March 14, and 13 days later retired as chairman, "to ensure that all current questions and controversies regarding the business and the financial reporting of AIG, and my role and conduct in those matters, be resolved independently by the company and its board of directors without interference or influence by me."

Mr. Greenberg, who was legendary for his tight control and intimate knowledge of AIG during his 38 year tenure, said he was "generally in charge of the overall conduct of the business. I was familiar with many, but certainly not all, or even a significant percentage of the literally millions of transactions each year in approximately 130 countries.

" I made many decisions and approved many decisions by many colleagues. In many cases, I made general decisions which were then implemented by others without my involvement. Many other decisions and actions were taken by others in the company without my participation."

He added that "I am willing to accept responsibility and to account for the performance of my duties, but I believe that good order and fairness require that I have an adequate opportunity to be advised of the issues to be investigated and to my alleged involvement therein."

Mr. Greenberg, who is due to be questioned about transactions suspected of improperly improving his company's financial picture, remains as chairman of Bermuda-based C.V Starr & Company, the ultimate parent of AIG.

Mr. Spitzer, in an ABC television interview yesterday reported by the Associated Press, said his office believes Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet, who was questioned today, could "shed light on a series of transactions that ... Hank Greenberg participated in."

Mr. Spitzer said Mr. Buffet was "not a subject or a target of our investigation," but added that "there are some ambiguities that will be hopefully addressed [Monday] in our discussion with Mr. Buffett."

"He is a witness in our view, and the focus of this investigation is AIG and the much broader reach of the offshore entities that AIG has created that we believe were, in many respects, fraudulent," Mr. Spitzer said.

According to The New York Times, documents from a 2000 reinsurance transaction at the center of the investigations were altered several months after the deal was arranged.