Greenberg to AIG: Let's get it on

NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The one-time head of American International Group has struck a combative posture in a battle with his former employer and the law.

Lawyers for Maurice Greenberg are challenging the rationale for the giant insurance company's $4 billion income restatement, calling many of the items in it "exaggerated and unnecessary." They suggested the restatement was a pretense for firing Greenberg, the New York Times reported Friday.

Greenberg's position was summarized in a document presented to regulators Thursday that partly blames the company's audit committee and the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for the company's complex accounting system.

The document suggests Greenberg is ready to fight both AIG and any criminal charges prosecutors are widely thought to be mulling.

The paper is "a shot across the bow of the regulators who clearly are contemplating bringing criminal charges," said Robert Mintz, head of the white-collar defense practice of the law firm McCarter & English. "It's a signal that this is clearly a winnable fight and it's far from a black and white case."