Lawyer did not tell Greenberg Sico should end AIG scheme
Richard Beattie, chairman of New York lawyers Simpson Thacher, denied former AIG Boss Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s claim that the lawyer told him to end a deferred-compensation program for reasons of corporate governance.
Greenberg had claimed Beattie has said in 2005 that Starr International (Sisco) should end the scheme at the centre of a court row beteen AIG and its former boss.
“No, I knew nothing about the compensation plan at that time,” Beattie told federal jurors in New York.
Beattie, who represented AIG’s independent directors, testified about a January 2005 dinner at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. He disagreed with Greenberg’ testimony. Greenberg testified that Beattie advised him at the dinner to separate Sico from AIG.
Time to retire
“The sole purpose of the meeting and the conversation was to convince Mr. Greenberg, who was 79 or 80 at the time, to suggest that he should set a retirement date and name a successor to demonstrate to the marketplace that AIG was following good corporate governance practices,” Beattie testified yesterday.
That ended AIG’c case and Sico lawyers began presenting their case late yesterday.
