The bad news continues for reinsurance giant, A.I.G.

Former chairman and chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has resigned from the company board and New York Attorney General.

Eliot Spitzer filed a civil suit against A.I.G. executives in May and is readying a Grand Jury to pursue his continuing investigation for the insurance firm and its executives.

The company is also facing lawsuits from investors who claim they were defrauded by company management.

Meanwhile, the A.I.G. whirlpool looks to take down executives from KKR and Berkshire Hathaway - both entities particupated in suspect transactions with AIG and the extent of their culpability has yet to be determined.

Now, it appears a prominent A.I.G. exec, Joseph Umansky (who was head of AIG's reinsurance division that is the principal focus of investigation), has secured immunity in a deal to testify for prosecutors regarding possible criminal charges that may be brought against former CEO Hank Greenberg.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

AIG executive rolls for Spitzer

June 9, 2005

A former American International Group senior executive may spill the beans on the controversial reinsurance deals of Warren Buffett's company. Joseph Umansky was once known inside the company as a troubleshooter. In the sprawling, multi-tiered investigation of AIG and former top executives, he may be a source of trouble.

Mr Umansky was a senior vice-president in the corporate division of the insurer AIG and president of AIG Reinsurance Advisers, a reinsurance unit. Part of the inner circle of executives who dealt closely with the former chief executive, Maurice Greenberg, he was intimately involved in many of the deals that regulators and AIG itself have found to be improper.

Mr Umansky is to co-operate with New York attorney-general Eliot Spitzer in exchange for immunity. That complicates a parallel investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Read the full article here.

-- MDT

Labels: AIG, Eliot Spitzer, General Re, New York AG