Greenberg wins access to AIG docs

Ex American International Group Inc. executive Maurice R. Greenberg will get court-ordered access to legal documents that could help him fight fraud charges, according to published reports. A New York state appeals court ruled that Mr. Greenberg could review the documents, which include information on an allegedly fraudulent reinsurance transaction with General Re Corp. that allowed AIG to improperly inflate its loss reserves by $500 million in 2000 and 2001, The New York Times said. The Tuesday ruling by the appellate division of New York State Supreme Court is the latest chapter in a 2005 civil lawsuit filed by former New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer against Mr. Greenberg and former AIG finance chief Howard Smith. Mr. Spitzer, now governor of New York, had charged both men with fraud related to the Gen Re deal. In turn, Mr. Greenberg was ousted from the insurer in 2005, and AIG -- originally a defendant — settled with the regulators in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Smith have argued that they had relied on the advice from AIG’s attorneys concerning the transaction, and that information is in the legal documents they can now view, according to the Times. An AIG spokesman told the Times the insurer would appeal the decision. These documents could also impact a criminal trial in the Federal District Court in Hartford, Conn.: Five executives — one from AIG and four from Gen Re — have been accused of creating the alleged sham transaction. Though Mr. Greenberg hasn’t been charged in this case, he was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator.