American International Group Inc. (AIG), the country's largest insurance company, may shell out as much as $1.5 billion in order to settle civil investigations by state and federal authorities into an accounting scandal, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Last May, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department filed a civil suit against AIG and former CEO Hank Greenberg, charging them with misleading investors by using improper accounting practices. The settlement would put an end to the lawsuit against AIG but would not include a deal with Greenberg or former AIG chief financial officer Howard Smith. Greenberg and Smith have denied any wrongdoing.
