NEW YORK_Embattled insurer American International Group Inc. will be in court Monday trying to recoup money it claims was wrongly pocketed through stock sales by its former chief executive, Maurice Greenberg.

AIG sued Greenberg, who left the company amid controversy in 2005, for breaching his fiduciary responsibility by misappropriating shares held in trust by Starr International Co. for AIG's deferred compensation program. Greenberg, who runs Starr International, subsequently sold a portion of the shares, claiming they were not held in a trust. Starr earned $4.3 billion on the share sale, according to published reports.

AIG is in the process of restructuring its business, shedding assets and cutting costs, after it received a loan bailout package worth up to $182.5 billion from the government. As part of the loan package, the government took a roughly 80 percent stake in the huge insurance company.


The New York-based insurer was first bailed out with an $85 billion lifeline in September on the same weekend investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection setting off one of the worst periods of the recent credit crisis. The government stepped in to rescue AIG amid worries that its collapse would further devastate the global financial sector.

Until the government bailout, between companies he runs and personal holdings, Greenberg had controlled the largest stake of outstanding AIG shares.

If AIG were to prevail in the lawsuit against Greenberg, it could use the funds to repay its government loans.

Greenberg led AIG for nearly 40 years until he was forced to step down in 2005 over allegations of accounting irregularities. Greenberg has denied any wrongdoing.