A second senior executive of billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s reinsurance company, General Re Corp., plans to plead guilty in a probe of insurer American International Group Inc., the New York Times reported.
A General Re senior vice president, Richard Napier, would plead guilty to criminal fraud charges, the newspaper said on its Web site, quoting a court document and individuals briefed on the AIG investigation.
Investigators have said transactions between General Re, a unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and AIG added millions of dollars to AIG’s balance sheet in the fourth quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001.
On Thursday, John Houldsworth, a former head of General Re’s Cologne Re unit, pleaded guilty to charges as part of the investigation into transactions between AIG and General Re.
Napier closely handled details of a transaction between Houldsworth and AIG that was under investigation, the newspaper said, quoting a court document.
Houldsworth’s evidence could implicate the current head of General Re, Joseph. P Brandon, the Times added, quoting a person familiar with the probe of AIG.
Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. could not be immediately reached for comment.
But the Web site for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia showed Napier was set for a “pre-indictment plea agreement” on Friday at 9 a.m.
Houldsworth, 46, admitted conspiracy “as part of a scheme to fraudulently enable (AIG) to report increased insurance reserves,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.
New York-based AIG, a large financial services firm, has been under investigation for months by federal regulators and the New York state attorney general’s office.
