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U.S. names Buffett as witness in ex-Gen Re execs trial
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors plan to call Berkshire Hathaway Inc's <BRKa.N> Warren Buffett as a witness in a criminal trial of former officers of its General Re Corp reinsurance unit, according to a court filing on Monday.
Four former General Re officers, including one-time Chief Executive Ronald Ferguson, were indicted last year in an alleged scheme to help insurer American International Group Inc <AIG.N> inflate reserves on its books. A former AIG officer was also indicted.
Jury selection in the case began before U.S. District Judge Christopher Droney in Connecticut federal court on Monday, and opening arguments in the trial are scheduled to begin on January 7.
A Berkshire representative declined to comment.
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Also called as witnesses are several AIG officials, including director and former Chairman of the Board Frank Zarb, Vice President of Investor Relations Charlene Hamrah, and Frank Douglas, a senior vice president who runs the insurer's casualty and actuary unit.
Several Wall Street analysts are also named as witnesses, including Merrill Lynch's Jay Cohen, Mark Lane of William Blair & Co, Michael Lewis at UBS and Michael Smith of Bear Stearns & Co.
The government also plans to call John Houldsworth, the head of a former subsidiary of Gen Re who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to falsify SEC records, and Richard Napier, a former Gen Re vice president.
The fraud accusations stem from a 2000 transaction in which AIG and General Re executives attempted to boost AIG's loss reserves to make the world's largest insurer by market value look better to investors.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The plan backfired, helping to lead to the departure of former AIG Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and the insurer's agreement to pay $1.64 billion to settle fraud and other charges.
(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal and Ed Leefeldt, editing by Dave Zimmerman, Richard Chang)
