Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt has been named as a special advisor to insurer and financial services provider American International Group Inc.
Levitt, 74, was the longest-serving chairman in the history of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which he ran from 1993 to 2001. The company said that Levitt's duties will include providing advice on potential nominees for election to the board of directors, as well as on board procedures, structure and governance issues.
Prior to joining the SEC, Levitt served as the chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the American Stock Exchange, after spending 16 years on Wall Street.
The insurer also announced that vice president Charles H. Dangelo, who had been president of AIG Global Risk Management, will become the company's senior reinsurance officer. Dangelo will be responsible for all outward reinsurance relationships.
AIG has been at the center of probes by both the SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over improper accounting. A fraud lawsuit filed by Spitzer against former AIG chair Maurice "Hank" Greenberg led to Greenberg's resignation from the board after running the company for nearly 40 years in early June. The suit accuses Greenberg of misleading regulators and investors by using sham reinsurance contracts.
AIG, which was also named in the civil suit, has already restated five years of earnings, lowering its net income by 10 percent, and seen the company's market value fall by almost $35 billion.
