Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg resigned from the board of directors of American International Group Inc., finally severing all ties to the company he led for nearly four decades and turned into one of the world’s most dominant insurance companies, according to published reports.
“My decision to resign now results from my inability to receive information regarding the company and its operations necessary to fulfill my fiduciary duties,” Greenberg stated in a four-sentence letter to the company that was released by his attorneys, according to The Wall Street Journal. “I wish the employees of AIG every future success.”
The resignation is effective immediately, according to reports.
In March, Greenberg resigned as president and chief executive officer and retired as chairman of AIG, which is currently embroiled in an accounting scandal. He had planned to resign from the board at the company’s annual meeting, which had been scheduled for April. That gathering was delayed pending the release of the company’s annual report, which was delayed three times.
On May 31, AIG finally filed its 2004 annual report, restatements of results from 2000 through 2003, and an adjustment to its 2004 financials. The embattled insurance giant cut its 2004 net income by 11.9 percent, to $9.73 billion, from the $11.05 billion announced in its February 9 earnings release. Altogether it reduced net earnings by $3.9 billion over the five-year period.
AIG, Greenberg, and former chief financial officer Howard I. Smith face a civil suit, filed last month by New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and New York State Insurance Commissioner Howard Mills, that accuse them of manipulating the company’s financials in order to deceive regulators and investors.
Greenberg remains the head of Starr International, part of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc., which holds and manages retirement funds of past and current AIG executives, according to the Associated Press. C.V. Starr founded the company that became AIG, the wire service also noted.