NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will not press criminal charges against former American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, a spokesman for the attorney general said Friday.
"We said this in the summer," said Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp, referring to a civil lawsuit filed in May against AIG, Greenberg and former AIG Chief Financial Officer Howard Smith, alleging they committed fraud to make AIG's books look better.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Friday.
"We named Greenberg in the suit, so it was a case against Greenberg and AIG (to be) pursued civilly," Dopp said.
Greenberg and former CFO Howard Smith have said they will fight the allegations in the lawsuit.
Dopp added that no decision had been made about filing an amended civil complaint in the case next week, as reported by the Journal as well.
Spitzer's decision does not leave the former AIG CEO in the clear.
His lawsuit says Greenberg and Smith, who were ousted when the investigation first picked up steam, took part in numerous fraudulent business deals that exaggerated the strength of the company's core underwriting business and propped up its stock price.
Federal prosecutors in New York and the U.S. Justice Department are still pursuing criminal probes of Greenberg, a source familiar with the matter has said.
At the end of May, AIG said it had overstated net income for the past five years by $3.9 billion, or 10 percent.
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