JUDGE SURVIVES RECUSAL EFFORTS IN CASE AGAINST HANK GREENBERG ALLEGING FRAUDULENT REINSURANCE TRANSACTIONS
A New York appellate court affirmed the denial of Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s and former AIG CFO Howard Smith’s motion to recuse the trial judge in a case charging the two with fraudulent reinsurance transactions designed to conceal AIG’s negative financial results. The court found that the trial judge’s “comments at oral argument on the recusal motion and purported improprieties at various proceedings,” did not “demonstrate that the court improperly exercised its discretion in denying defendant’s motion for recusal.” The court explained that, while the judge “at times may have been irritated with defense counsel and the prolonged litigation, it cannot be said that his comments, alone or in the aggregate, caused his impartiality to be reasonably questioned.” The court further found to be persuasive the fact that “defendants did not move for recusal until recently, after the court had ruled against them on summary judgment motions, after years of litigation before it.” People v. Greenberg, Case No. 2014 NY Slip Op 00621 (N.Y. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2014).
This post written by Michael Wolgin.
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