New York AG serves subpoena on Berkshire's General Re

OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it received a subpoena from the New York state attorney general's office demanding information about its reinsurance subsidiary General Re Corp.

The subpoena was delivered Thursday, eight days after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked for identical information about the reinsurance business, Berkshire Hathaway said in a statement late Thursday.

Buffett is chairman of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway, which said the subpoena seeks documentation and information relating to nontraditional or loss mitigation insurance products from General Re and all its affiliates — the same information sought by the SEC.

Federal and state regulators have been examining loss mitigation products to see whether insurance companies sold products that may not really be insurance, but instead may be aimed at helping companies smooth out earnings.

"Berkshire Hathaway and General Re will cooperate fully with the New York State Attorney General," the release, sent Thursday night, said.

A spokesman for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Marc Violette, confirmed the subpoena Friday, but wouldn't comment on its scope or the records sought.

Berkshire also said it and General Re are cooperating with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, relating to one of General Re's former clients that it did not identify. General Re and four of its current and former employees first received subpoenas for documents in that investigation in October 2003.

Recently, General Re received requests for additional information related to the same former client and for information related to its finite reinsurance business from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Justice Department in Washington, Berkshire officials said.

Berkshire chief financial officer Marc Hamburg did not return a telephone message left by The Associated Press seeking further comment.

General Re, based in Stamford, Conn., is one of the four largest reinsurance companies in the world. Reinsurance policies are sold to primary insurers to help them cover large losses.