Elite US litigation firm Boies Schiller is representing former AIG chief executive Hank Greenberg as he prepares to sue the US government over the terms of the insurer's financial crisis bailout.

Acting for Greenberg (pictured), Boies Schiller chariman David Boies is set to argue that through coercion the US government was able to impose harsh terms on AIG, and that other firms that received assistance during the crisis received more preferential treatment.

The emergency loan of $85bn (£52.3bn) given to AIG in September 2008 also came with a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer for the government, as aspect of the deal which is due to be central to this case as Boies questions the Fed's legal right to request and take up this stake.

The case is due to begin today (29 September) at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, with top legal advisors including Sullivan & Cromwell senior chairman Rodgin Cohen also due to testify.

Compensation for the terms of the bailout could reach $25bn (£15.3bn), according to reports.

In 2009, Boies acted for Starr International Company (SICO), a Greenberg owned financial services firm, against AIG, of which Greenberg was CEO from 1967 until 2005. AIG was seeking control of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of AIG shares held by SICO.

Boies Schiller, which sits as a core advisor to Barclays, also recently scored a role defending the high street bank over a US probe into high frequency trading from its 'dark pool' division.

 

 

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