AIG Seeks Phone And Credit Card Records From Ex-Unit CEO, Spouse

Copyright 2010 SNL Financial LCAll Rights Reserved SNL Insurance Daily

March 4, 2010 Thursday

388 words

AIG seeks phone and credit card records from ex-unit CEO, spouse

David Dankwa

 

Attorneys for Kevin Fitzpatrick, the former CEO of American International Group's global real estate business, want a court to invalidate subpoenas for phone and credit card records that have been served on their client and his wife.

 

Attorneys for Kevin Fitzpatrick, the former CEO of American International Group Inc.'s global real estate business, want a court to invalidate subpoenas for phone and credit card records that have been served on their client and his wife.

 

AIG presumably served the subpoenas to collect information that would substantiate its claims that Fitzpatrick clandestinely removed tens of thousands of pages of confidential materials from AIG headquarters, using his wife's credit card to pay for the shipment and false return addresses to disguise his actions. The subpoenas were served Feb. 12.

 

In a letter to the court, Fitzpatrick's attorneys argue that the subpoenas are too broad because they seek "all of the personal phone and credit records of Mr. Fitzpatrick and his family from the beginning of time to the present."

 

Fitzpatrick, who was terminated shortly after federal authorities seized and rescued AIG from the brink of bankruptcy, sued the insurer late last year to redeem his purported share of profit-interest distributions totaling about $130 million. AIG countersued Fitzpatrick, accusing him of absconding with confidential materials amounting to 45,000 pages and 9.63 gigabytes of sensitive information.

 

During his 20-year career with AIG, Fitzpatrick oversaw numerous investment funds that acquired and managed myriad real estate investments around the world. He also controlled dozens of special purpose vehicles that distributed profit interests to him and other AIG Global Real Estate employees.

 

He denies stealing any confidential information. Rather, Fitzpatrick claims that he had been specifically ordered to review voluminous materials in connection with certain real estate assets that he and his team, in conjunction with consultants from Blackstone Group LP and Merrill Lynch, were working around the clock to prepare for potential sale.

 

Fitzpatrick insists that the $130 million is due and owing under the terms of his contract at the time his employment with AIG ceased. On the other hand, AIG alleges that Fitzpatrick is not entitled to any such payment because his employment was terminated for cause.

 

AIG's attorneys recently moved the lawsuit from New York state court to Manhattan federal court on the basis that Fitzpatrick's claims fall within the scope of the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act.

March 10, 2010

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