Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg
MAURICE 'HANK' GREENBERG
CHAIRMAN
Former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG) which was the world's 18th largest public company and the largest insurance and financial services corporation in history.
He was also vice chairman and director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission. He was awarded "CEO of the Year 2003" by Chief Executive Magazine.
Greenberg was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He received his law degree from New York Law School in 1950. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1953. He holds honorary degrees from several colleges including Brown University, Middlebury College, New York Law School and The Rockefeller University.
He is a trustee emeritus of the Rockefeller University, and is an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and trustee of the Asia Society, all three institutions founded by the Rockefeller family.
He has served on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and the Business Roundtable. He was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1988-1995 and served as its Chairman from 1994-5.
Greenberg is a social friend and was a client of Henry Kissinger. In 1987 he appointed Kissinger as chairman of AIG's International Advisory Board.
Kroll Associates
In 1993, Maurice Greenberg's AIG, became co-owner of the "private spy agency", Kroll Associates, as a result of rescuing Kroll from bankruptcy with a cash infusion.
Kroll was notorious during the 1980s as the "CIA of Wall Street" due to the prevalence of former CIA, FBI, Scotland Yard, British secret service and British Special Air Service men Kroll employed for corporate espionage in takeover bids, as well as for destabilization of foreign nations.
9/11
Kroll oversaw the security of the Twin Towers on 9/11. The first plane that struck the World Trade Center homed in on a secure computer room in the northeast section of the North Tower. The plane went directly into the computer room of a company named Marsh & McLennan that was run by Greenberg's son, Jeffrey.
Putin
In 2003, Vladimir Putin pursued an economic agenda for Russia to begin normalized trade relations with the West which included the repeal of the Jackson–Vanik amendment. Putin tried to use his relationship with Hank Greenberg to repeal the Jackson-Vannik provisions in the United States. Putin wanted Greenberg to support through American Insurance Group greater development of the nascent Russian home-mortgage market.
Russia and Maria Butina
In June 2008, Greenberg’s Starr Russia Investments III bought 20 percent of Investtorgbank, a Russian bank. Banki.ru reported that the fund Greenberg headed paid about $100 million for its share of the bank. In August 2009, Starr invested an additional $8 million in the bank, according to court filings in the state of New York.
In December 2014, according to court filings, the Russian Central Bank started auditing the bank’s books. Lawyers for Starr say Gudkov and others in the bank engaged in egregious self-dealing, frittering away tens of millions of dollars. The Russian government auditors concluded that by the end of 2014, the bank was insolvent.
In April 2015, while that audit was still underway, Butina and Alexander Torshin—a Russian Central Bank official later accused of money laundering and sanctioned by the U.S. government—attended a private discussion of Russia’s financial situation at the Center for the National Interest, according to Reuters. Greenberg participated in the meeting.
The 29-year-old Russian national also braced Greenberg, pushing him to increase his investments in his bank in Moscow—a bank that was also facing financial collapse.
Asia
Maurice Greenberg was deeply involved in trade with China in the 80s, where Henry Kissinger was one of his representatives.
Greenberg became very close to Shaul Eisenberg, the leader of the Asian section of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, and agent for the sales of sophisticated military equipment to the Chinese military.
Greenberg is chairman emeritus of the US-ASEAN Business Council.
In 1990 Greenberg was appointed by Zhu Rongji, then Mayor of Shanghai, to be the first chairman of the International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai. In 1994 Greenberg was appointed senior economic advisor to the Beijing municipal government. He was awarded "Honorary Citizen of Shanghai" in 1997. He is a member of the advisory board of the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Development Research Foundation and China Development Bank.
Greenberg was appointed as a member of the Hong Kong Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers where he served from 1998 to 2005. He is also a former chairman and current member of the US–Korea Business Council and a member of the US–China Business Council. He is vice-chairman of the board of directors of the National Committee on United States – China Relations. He is a former chairman and current trustee of the Asia Society.
In 1990 Greenberg was appointed by Zhu Rongji, then Mayor of Shanghai, to be the first chairman of the International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai. In 1994 Greenberg was appointed senior economic advisor to the Beijing municipal government. He was awarded "Honorary Citizen of Shanghai" in 1997. He is a member of the advisory board of the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Development Research Foundation and China Development Bank.
Greenberg was appointed as a member of the Hong Kong Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers where he served from 1998 to 2005. He is also a former chairman and current member of the US–Korea Business Council and a member of the US–China Business Council. He is vice-chairman of the board of directors of the National Committee on United States – China Relations. He is a former chairman and current trustee of the Asia Society.
Bailout
AIG was a central player in the financial crisis of 2008. It was bailed out by the federal government for $180 billion, and the government stepped up to prop up, take control and absorbed the losses. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) of the US government concluded AIG failed primarily because it sold massive amounts of insurance without hedging its investment. Its enormous sales of credit default swaps were "made without putting up initial collateral, setting aside capital reserves, or hedging its exposure—a profound failure in corporate governance, particularly its risk-management practices". AIG took risks with unregulated hedge fund products while using cash from people's insurance policies. This created a 'too big to fail' blueprint.
This was possibly the biggest financial scam in history. The criminal and fraudulent financial/insurance structure was built and operated by Maurice Greenberg.
At the time of AIG's woes, Greenberg wanted little to do with the company when it was short $180 billion. The government bailout wasn't good enough for Greenberg thou, unbelievably he filed suit, arguing that the terms of the bailout were too tough and ungratefully complained that the government should have given AIG unlimited cash on easier terms.
Elliot Spitzer
In October 2004, then New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer filed a lawsuiit against Marsh & McLennan, accusing the company of having, for years, colluded with big insurance companies to "cheat customers in an elaborate charade of price fixing and bid rigging".
The three insurers he named were the giants American International Group, Zurich America Insurance Company and Ace Ltd. Adding spice to the story was the relationship between them: AIG was headed by the 79-year-old insurance industry legend Maurice "Hank" Greenberg; his son Jeffrey ran Marsh & McLennan, and; another son, Evan, was boss of Ace.
Spitzer claimed that Marsh & McLennan jacked up insurance premiums - thus increasing its commissions, and the profits of the insurers - with "fake bids, collusion, improper steering of business, payments by insurers to avoid solicitation of competing of competing quotes, and threats against those resisting participation in the fraudulent schemes".
The company "acted, in short, less like a broker with a fiduciary obligation to its clients than as the linchpin of a racket", Spitzer said.
Marsh & McLennan's shares tumbled more than 25 per cent, despite pledging it was "committed to getting all the facts, determining any incidence of improper behaviour and dealing appropriately with any wrongdoing".
Jeffrey Greenberg was forced to resign. His replacement was a man the company had inherited a few months earlier when it took over Kroll Inc, Michael Cherkasky, who was uniquely placed to steer the company through the scandal which threatened to destroy it.
For 16 years, Cherkasky was a white-collar crime buster for the New York District Attorney's office; Spitzer, now prosecuting Marsh & McLennan, was his protege. In 1994, Cherkasky joined Kroll - gamekeeper become poacher - working his way up to the chief executive's office.
Within three months, Cherkasky had overseen a clean-out of Marsh & McLennan's board, and the sacking of most of the executives deemed accountable for the corruption. He persuaded Spitzer to drop the civil charges against the company by pledging to pay $US850 million to clients around the world - including Australia - that Marsh & McLennan had defrauded.
Criminal charges are still pending against 10 former executives of Marsh & McLennan and the insurance companies. In February, Kathryn Winter, the 50-year-old managing director of Marsh Inc, pleaded guilty to fraud in the Manhattan State Superior Court. She faces up to four years' jail, depending on how keenly she co-operates with Spitzer's investigators.
Cherkasky personally apologised to 120 of his biggest clients, and showed thousands of staff the door in a bid to restore the ailing giant to profitability.
He is now engaged on an even greater challenge - to convince outraged clients who had been deserting the company in droves, that Marsh & McLennan is serious about its reforms
Bush Connection
"Greenberg is well-known in Washington where he known for raising large amounts of money. Greenberg was one of the President Bush's 'Rangers' which means he personally raked in more than $200,000 for the reelection campaign. At the same time, he is also known for his access to members of the cabinet and Congress. This access has paid-off as the administration has often supported Greenberg on a number of issues ranging from access to China to terrorism insurance," Ron Scherer reported in the April 1, 2005, Christian Science Monitor.
Affiliations
Chairman, Nixon Center
"Greenberg and AIG have further expanded their reach through the use of the $5 billion Starr Foundation, named after the founder of the company Cornelius Vander Starr. It supports influential groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Chamber Foundation, associated with the US Chamber of Commerce," Sherer wrote.
Patron of the American Australian Association
Director, Business Executives for National Security
Director, Foreign Policy Association (in 2001/02 at least)
Director, Japan Society
Director, US China Business Council
Director, World Trade Center Memorial Foundation
Board of Overseers, International Rescue Committee
Member, National Coalition on Asia and International Education in the Schools
Emeriti Trustee, Rockefeller University
Life Trustee, New York University
International Advisory Board, International Economic Alliance
Honorary Trustee, Museum of Modern Art
