An intermediate New York appeals court ruled earlier this week that AIG must give Mr. Greenberg and former AIG Chief Financial Officer Howard I. Smith access to legal memoranda prepared before they left the insurer in 2005.
The two men contend they need the documents to argue that they relied on the advice of counsel in carrying out transactions that the attorney general’s civil complaint charges were fraudulent. Those transactions include a 2000 loss portfolio reinsurance deal with General Re Corp. that is at the center of a criminal trial in Hartford, CT., against four former Gen Re officials and a former AIG reinsurance vice president
On Friday, AIG asked a New York judge to stay the appellate panel’s decision pending further appeal, contending that there would be no prejudice to Messrs. Greenberg and Smith if the stay is granted but there would be irreparable harm to AIG if it is not.