More from the Joseph Cassano files, which are proving to be very interesting indeed.
According to an SEC filing made this month by AIG, a company shareholder in January filed a lawsuit charging Cassano with concealing his financial product unit’s massive losses. Cassano stepped down as the head of the unit — which made the credit default swaps that drove AIG into the ground — last year.
Here’s the full relevant portion of the filing:
Derivative Action — Delaware Court of Chancery. On January 15, 2009, a purported shareholder derivative complaint was filed in the Court of Chancery of Delaware naming as defendants certain current directors of AIG and Joseph Cassano, the former CEO of AIGFP, and asserting claims on behalf of nominal defendant AIGFP. As sole shareholder of AIGFP, AIG was also named as a nominal defendant. Plaintiff asserts claims against Joseph Cassano for breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment. The complaint alleges that Cassano was responsible for losses suffered by AIGFP related to its exposure to subprime-backed credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations and that he concealed these losses for his own benefit.
As we noted earlier, the FBI and SEC are already investigating that same issue of whether Cassano’s unit committed fraud by misleading investors and regulators about its losses. And Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is also probing the unit.
We’re trying to track down the complaint itself…