N.Y. Regulators Say MetLife Fined $60M, to Cooperate in Probe of AIG

MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, will pay $60 million after New York watchdogs found subsidiaries solicited business in the state without a license and made intentional misrepresentations to regulators.

MetLife also agreed to cooperate with the New York State Department of Financial Services investigation into American International Group Inc., which sold the businesses to MetLife in 2010, DFS said in a statement today. That inquiry hasn’t been resolved, the department said.

“Insurers have a responsibility to follow the law, play by the rules, and be honest with their regulators,” DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in the statement.

MetLife will pay $50 million to DFS and $10 million to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The New York-based insurer also agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the office, according to a separate statement.

MetLife acquired American Life Insurance Co. from New York-based AIG for more than $16 billion in 2010, adding operations in more than 50 countries. The insurers struck the deal as AIG was working to repay a U.S. bailout that began in 2008 and swelled to $182.3 billion.

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