US prosecutors said a scheme to manipulate the financial statements of the world’s largest insurance company, American International Group Inc, resulted in a loss of more than US$1 billion to investors.
Four former executives of General Re Corp and a former executive of American International Group were convicted in February of conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission. They await sentencing.
The prosecution filed court papers on Friday citing a study by its expert, concluding the fraud-related losses to AIG shareholders totaled US$1.2 billion to US$1.4 billion. Another methodology from the expert put the losses at around US$543 million to US$598 million, but prosecutors said either method is reasonable.
The defendants are challenging the estimate, which could affect the length of their sentences. The defendants, all of whom await sentencing, are Christopher Garand, Ronald Ferguson, Elizabeth Monrad, Robert Graham, and Christian Milton.
Ferguson said in court papers last week he anticipated the government will advocate a loss amount that leads to a recommendation for life in prison. But prosecutors made no such recommendation, simply concluding that the defendants should receive a “substantial” prison sentence.
A report by the probation department recommends sentences of 14 to more than 17 years for each defendant.
In a separate set of court papers filed on Friday, Garand argued that prosecutors failed to show there was any loss caused by the deal that led to the charges.
Milton also filed court papers on Friday, saying he was not personally enriched by the scheme as defendants were in other recent corporate scandals.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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