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Journalism of Courage
Warren Buffett will on Monday meet state and federal investigators looking into his company’s business ties with embattled insurer American International Group (AIG) and possibly other firms, a filing said on Friday.
Meanwhile, a tip from Buffett may have led to the fall of AIG’s long-time chairman and CEO, according to a published report. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway will meet jointly with investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the office of the New York Attorney General, the Department of Justice and the US attorney’s office, according to an SEC filing by the company.
The filing said the group of investigators has already talked to a number of current and former officers and employees of General Re and General Reinsurance, the Berkshire reinsurance firms that had the business dealings with AIG.
Reinsurance firms sell insurance to insurers seeking to spread their risks. The filing also suggests, although it does not specify, that investigators may be looking at Berkshire deals with companies other than AIG. ‘‘General Re and Berkshire have been responding to requests from all of the governmental authorities involved in these investigations for information relating to certain transactions that may have been accounted for incorrectly by counterparties of General Reinsurance (or its subsidiaries), including in at least one case American International Group,’’ the filing said.
‘‘Berkshire understands that the government is reviewing the role of General Re and its subsidiaries, as well as that of their counterparties, in these transactions.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Buffett is the one who gave investigators the tip that led to the probe of AIG — which, in turn, resulted in the departure of Maurice ‘‘Hank’’ Greenberg, the insurer’s long-time chairman and CEO. The Wall Street Journal reports that in an effort to win leniency for Berkshire from prosecutors in an unrelated case, Buffett had his lawyers turn over documents describing a suspect transaction between a Berkshire unit and AIG.
