Gen Re, AIG retrial set for early 2013

BOSTON (Reuters)—Four former executives of reinsurer General Re and a former executive of insurer American International Group Inc. will face an early 2013 retrial on criminal fraud charges, according to an order from the federal judge overseeing their case.

The order, entered Tuesday by Judge Vanessa Bryant of U.S. District Court in Connecticut, set a Jan. 22, 2013, retrial for Ronald Ferguson, Robert Graham, Christian Milton, Elizabeth Monrad and Christopher Garand.

Prosecutors have accused the five of engineering a sham transaction in 2000 that let AIG inflate its loss reserves without transferring risk.

They were previously convicted and sentenced to prison, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed their convictions last year and ordered a new trial, citing errors by the presiding judge at the original trial.

Gen Re is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway. Ferguson was Gen Re's chief executive and Monrad was chief financial officer. Garand and Graham also worked there. Milton was an executive at AIG.