AIG vs. Starr day 10, AIG rests
The chairman of law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP contradicted testimony by former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg at a civil trial over whether his private company improperly took $4.3 billion in AIG stock.
AIG attorney Theodore Wells rested his case today after Richard Beattie, chairman of New York-based Simpson Thacher, denied Greenberg’s claim that the lawyer told him in 2005 that Starr International Co. should end a deferred-compensation program for reasons of corporate governance.
“No, I knew nothing about the compensation plan at that time,” Beattie told federal jurors in New York.
AIG, formerly the world’s biggest insurer, has accused Starr International, or SICO, of improperly taking the money after ending the deferred compensation plan for AIG employees in retaliation for Greenberg’s March 2005 ouster. The company claims SICO unilaterally ended the retirement plan and violated its duty to continue compensating top AIG executives.
Beattie, who represented AIG’s independent directors, testified about a January 2005 dinner at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. He disagreed with the testimony of Greenberg, 84, who spent seven days on the witness stand during the trial. Greenberg testified that Beattie advised him at the dinner to separate SICO from AIG.
Bloomberg
6/26/9
Magnolia Tribune
