AIG loses $4.3bn battle

A FIRM run by former AIG chief executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg did not plunder billions from a retirement fund, a jury ruled yesterday, dashing the bailed-out insurer’s chances of collecting $4.3bn (£2.6bn) in damages.

AIG took Starr International, a private company run by Greenberg, to court in an effort to recover millions of shares held by Starr and get compensation for stock sold.

Yesterday’s decision is the latest blow for AIG as it tries to repay $83bn in loans from the federal government.

AIG had sought to establish that there was the creation of an oral trust in 1970, entrusting Starr International to use a block of AIG shares acquired in a company restructuring to fund an executive retirement scheme for generations of AIG employees.

But the eight- person jury ruled that Starr was not liable on the claim.