‘Hank’ Greenberg to Host Fundraiser for Republican Candidate Perry

C. V. Starr & Co. Inc. Chairman and CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg is scheduled to host a fundraising event in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 20, for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Perry is one of the leading Republican Party candidates for the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Perry is staying in New York on Sept. 19 and 20. During his trip, he will attend the fundraiser hosted by Greenberg, the C. V. Starr communications department told Insurance Journal. The news of the event was first reported by Politico, a political news web site. He will also attend other campaign events in New York.

C. V. Starr & Co. is a New York-based privately-held company with insurance agencies, the Starr Underwriting Agencies, and a portfolio of global investments, Starr Investment Group. Through the Starr Underwriting Agencies, C. V. Starr provides insurance coverage among several specialty lines covering aviation, marine, property and excess casualty insurance.

Greenberg is the former head of American International Group Inc. (AIG) He remains one of the best-known figures in the insurance and financial industry.

Under Greenberg’s nearly four decades of leadership, AIG became the largest insurer in the world and its market value grew from $300 million to $l80 billion.

In 2005, AIG’s board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigation into AIG and its executives intensified.

Critical View of AIG Bailout

In the past, Greenberg and Perry expressed a similarly critical view on the massive government bailout of AIG.

In his book “Fed Up!” Perry criticized the federal government for directing “hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out insurance giant AIG.” Greenberg said in a 2009 Congressional hearing that terms of the AIG bailout has “tremendous burdens on taxpayers.”