AIG Finds Efforts to Remove Documents in Bermuda (Update2)
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer, said it discovered efforts to remove documents from its Bermuda offices without company permission.
The company is cooperating with the New York Attorney General's office and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in regards to document security in Bermuda, New York and other locations, AIG said in a statement from Chief Executive Martin J. Sullivan.
An attorney representing former Chairman Maurice Greenberg removed documents from an AIG office in Bermuda and loaded them into a van, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. On March 24, Sullivan sent security guards to Bermuda to make sure no documents were taken without authorization, according to the newspaper's report.
Last week, AIG, which in February received subpoenas from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the SEC seeking information on policies that may have helped the company smooth earnings, said it engaged in improper accounting that may have inflated the company's net worth by as much as 2 percent, or $1.7 billion, during the past 14 years.
Berkshire
AIG structured transactions with reinsurers, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., to manipulate the company's accounts, the company said in a March 30 statement. AIG delayed filing its annual report for a second time and said it may restate earnings or book a cumulative expense in last year's fourth quarter.
On March 28, the company said Greenberg, who was ousted as chief executive March 14 amid accounting probes, would step down as chairman.
Shares of New York-based AIG fell $4.46, or 8 percent, to $50.95 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday and have declined 31 percent in the past year. The stock has dropped 30 percent since the Feb. 14 subpoenas from Spitzer and the SEC.
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