ML-Implode News - Spitzer's Trial Against Hank Greenberg Finally Begins

Eleven years ago, Eliot Spitzer, New York Attorney General at the time, filed a financial-fraud civil-court lawsuit against Mr. Greenberg. What followed was a decade of delays, new attorneys general and a narrowing of the accusations. StartingÂ Tuesday, the governmentÂ beganÂ trying to proveÂ Mr. Greenberg approved two financial maneuvers between 2000 and 2003 aimed at duping shareholders into believing AIG's core insurance operating results were better than they were.
...
The two claims that will be dissected in coming days are what remains of a wide-ranging civil suit filed by Mr. Spitzer in 2005, in one of his highest-profile moves just before his successful run for New York governor in 2006.

The original suit alleged nine different maneuvers by the former AIG chieftain to elevate the share price, and the state early on sought $6 billion in damages. Mr. Spitzer's 2005 probe led to Mr. Greenberg's resignation. In 2008, Mr. Spitzer resigned as governor in a sex scandal involving prostitutes, less than two years after taking office.

The state narrowed the case against Mr. Greenberg over the years and gave up an earlier demand for $6 billion in damages after a federal judge in 2013 approved a settlement of class-action litigation filed by AIG shareholders. That $115 million settlement mooted the multibillion-dollar damage claims in the state's lawsuit.
...
The state maintains Mr. Greenberg, in one of the alleged accounting frauds, initiated a transaction with Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s General Re unit to help AIG improperly boost its claims reserves in 2000 and 2001 by about $500 million, misleading investors about the amount of losses that AIG could absorb. Berkshire isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Relevant:

Spitzer's Trial Against Hank Greenberg Finally Begins