GEN RE ORDERED TO PROVIDE DOCUMENTS IN FINITE RE CASE

US district judge Christopher Droney has ordered Berkshire Hathaway’s General Re reinsurance subsidiary to turn over records of an internal investigation in the run-up to this month’s trial of former Gen Re and AIG executives who stand accused of devising a sham finite reinsurance deal that was designed to artificially improve financial results at AIG. However, Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, is now thought unlikely to be called to testify. A government filing said that Mr Buffett was only on its witness list “to rebut any suggestion by the defendants that he was involved in or approved” the reinsurance contracts that prosecutors claim helped New York-based AIG increase its reserves in 2000 and 2001. Judge Droney ruled last week that the records could be turned over to defense counsel if testimony given at trial conflicts with records of the earlier Gen Re investigation. Defendants in the case include former Gen Re chairman Ronald Ferguson, former Gen Re CFO Elizabeth Monrad, former senior vice-president Christopher Garand, former assistant general counsel Robert Graham and former AIG reinsurance head Christian Milton. Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for January 7.