Insurer sues ex-chief executive

American International Group has filed suit against ex-chief executive Maurice Greenberg and six other former directors and executives, accusing them of breaching fiduciary duty, according to published reports. In a complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court, the insurer said that Mr. Greenberg, ex finance chief Howard I. Smith, and five other former directors and officers misappropriated a “special block” of company shares valued at approximately $20 billion in 2005, breaching fiduciary duty, Reuters reported. These shares were held by Starr International, an AIG affiliate, which Mr. Greenberg now controls. The New York-based insurer accused Mr. Greenberg of helming a coup to “usurp full control” of Starr International’s board of directors, and then turning Starr into a private investment vehicle, Bloomberg said. AIG also said that the defendants breached fiduciary duty to the insurer and that Mr. Greenberg said he would use Starr International to start a venture capital and private equity firm to make investments in Eastern Europe, the Far East and the Middle East, Bloomberg reported. Other former officers or directors named in the complaint include Edward E. Matthews, Ernest Stempel, L. Michael Murphy, John J. Roberts and Houghton Freeman, Reuters said.