NEW YORK, Oct 21 (AFP) - Insurance behemoth American International Group said Thursday it was the subject of another investigation, in which a federal grand jury is looking into products it marketed and which companies may have used to massage their finances.
The insurer said in a statement it had been informed by the US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana that it is a target of a grand jury investigation.
According to AIG, the Indiana Attorney's office had said it was probing certain so-called "income smoothing" products marketed by AIG and accounted for as insurance, but which did not involve any actual risk transfer.
The fresh probe is specifically focused on a contract between AIG and Brightpoint, Inc., an Indiana-based cell-phone distributor.
The probe, announced as AIG reported a seven percent rise in third-quarter net profits to 2.51 billion dollars, comes amid ongoing probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.
The government probes are reviewing financial vehicles AIG helped create for PNC Financial Services Group Inc., while New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is also investigating AIG and other insurers over the pricing of certain products.
AIG said, with regard to the Indiana inquiry, that the matter had been investigated previously by the SEC and that the two sides resolved the regulator's investigation through a 10 million-dollar settlement last September.