The much-anticipated trial pitting David Boies against Ted Wells has been on our calendar for months. And now we’re just days away. On Monday, American International Group is set to go to trial against Starr International Co., a holding company controlled by former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison will be in AIG’s corner and Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner will be on Hank’s side. It will be the first time the two giants have faced off against each other at trial.
The dispute concerns the ownership of a massive block of shares in AIG that Starr holds or sold. AIG, which is seeking damages of roughly $4 billion, claims that Starr was obligated to keep those shares as part of a trust for AIG, and that Starr wrongly sold the shares for its benefit. Starr counters that no trust ever existed. Indeed, there is no written contract between the two and AIG has never mentioned the trust in its securities filings. Instead AIG has pointed to statements made by Greenberg in which he mentions the stock being held in “trust” for AIG.
