Greenberg: ‘I was angry’ about losing AIG CEO job

Former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg acknowledged Wednesday that he was angry about losing his job in 2005 but defended taking over a retirement bonus fund that AIG is trying to recover in federal court.

“Yes, I was angry,” Greenberg said, responding to a question from AIG’s lawyer Theodore Wells. Wells argued earlier this week that Greenberg, through his private firm Starr International Co., raided an AIG retirement program holding $4.3 billion in stock because he was upset about getting ousted in March 2005.

Greenberg, 84, built AIG over 35 years from a small insurer into the world’s largest, but he was forced to retire amid investigations of accounting irregularities. Starr, the firm that controlled the retirement fund in question since its creation, was AIG’s largest shareholder until the government bailed out the insurer last year.

Greenberg and Starr’s lawyers are arguing that the shares belonged to Starr.

The fund was established during a reorganization of AIG in 1970 with $110 million worth of stock. Its value grew to $4.3 billion over nearly four decades.