The ongoing battle between ousted American International Group founder and chairman Maurice Greenberg and his former associates took an ugly turn last week in a new suit filed in New York State Supreme Court.
Four C.V. Starr & Co. Inc. subsidiaries--Starr Tech, Starr Aviation, C.V. Starr & Co. and American International Marine Agency--filed the action in New York State Supreme Court, a county-level tribunal.
The lawsuit accuses AIG of information stealing, employee poaching and other wrongdoing in an attempt to derail the Starr subsidiaries' efforts to break away from AIG.
Starr brokerage and managing general agent operations were once intertwined with AIG but began an acrimonious separation after Mr. Greenberg was ousted last year during a New York investigation of accounting and other irregularities at AIG that led the insurer to agree to a $1.64 billion settlement. Mr. Greenberg is the chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co.
The latest Starr suit named up to 100 AIG co-conspirators.
"This lawsuit exposes a string of illegal activities at AIG designed to eliminate the C.V. Starr agencies," said Howard Opinksy, a spokesperson for the C.V. Starr companies.
The lawsuit alleges that once AIG failed to make anything but what was termed a "fire-sale" offer to buy the entities, it set out to "steal the Starr agencies' expertise customer relationships, confidential information and, ultimately, their customers."
The lawsuit names 25-year AIG veteran Ralph Mucerino, president of AIG Global Energy. It claims he was talking out both sides of his mouth when he allegedly branded Starr Tech a "rogue agent" and yet at the same time said AIG continued to maintain relations with Starr Tech.
"The language is particularly noteworthy as AIG Global Energy had no underwriters of its own in the United States who wrote business other than those it poached from the Starr Agencies," the suit alleged.
Defendant Warren Meigs served as vice president of Starr Tech in Hartford until he quit in January to work for AIG.
The suit alleges that after already agreeing to work for AIG, he presented employment contracts to Starr employees and "used confidential and proprietary Starr Tech information to assist AIG in making competing offers to lure Starr Tech's employees to AIG."
The suit also cites an alleged effort by Mr. Mucerino to lure London-based Starr Tech underwriter Frank Howell to join the new energy operation which AIG was setting up. "AIG representatives presented Mr. Howell with an employment contract and told him to sign the contract," the suit states. "When he refused, they ordered him to vacate the premises. The next day, Mr. Howell resigned from Starr Tech to take the AIG position."
In addition, AIG was accused of several other instances of "poaching" Starr employees and barring access to offices that they shared.
The agencies are seeking punitive damages and an order prohibiting AIG from using proprietary information of the Starr agencies.
AIG spokesperson Christian Murray said the company does not comment on ongoing litigation.
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