Ex-AIG Chief Issues ‘Defiant Statement’ After Settling with SEC for $15M
Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former CEO of the American International Group, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing him of overseeing an accounting fraud at the insurer.
The amount is one of the largest settlements against an individual in a fraudulent accounting case, the Wall Street Journal (sub. eq.) reports, quoting George Canellos, regional director for the SEC in New York. Greenberg did not admit or deny guilt in the settlement.
“But Mr. Greenberg did not go quietly,” the New York Times reports. “Shortly after the announcement from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Greenberg issued a defiant statement saying he had ‘no responsibility’ for the fraud at AIG, which he ran for about four decades ending in 2005.”
Greenberg also gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he was more slightly more contrite. He noted he wasn’t charged with fraud—he was charged instead under a law that holds those in corporate control liable for a company’s wrongdoing. “I would never agree to settle a fraud case,” Greenberg told the Wall Street Journal. But, he added, “The buck stops with the CEO.”
The SEC issued a statement after Greenberg’s comments that said Greenberg had mischaracterized the case, the Times says.
