NEW YORK - Warren Buffett, the star investor rated the world's second-richest man, appeared before regulators Monday to answer questions over a probe into financial dealings at the giant insurer AIG.
Buffett appeared before top officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York Attorney General's Office and the US Department of Justice, his holding company Berkshire Hathaway said.
He avoided a media scrum outside the SEC offices here by using a concealed side entrance, underlining the sensitivity of the occasion for a man who built his vast fortune on a reputation for integrity.
The questioning was to focus on General Re, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway selling reinsurance policies, which big insurance firms like American International Group (AIG) buy to spread their own policy risk.
AIG purchased reinsurance from General Re in late 2000 and early 2001 which investigators suspect may have been used by the financially troubled group to artificially bolster its reserves.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Buffett gave a tip to regulators that led to the fall of veteran AIG chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg in a boardroom coup at the end of March.
Greenberg was himself to appear before the regulators on Tuesday.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Sunday that Buffett could help "shed light" on transactions in which Greenberg participated.
In an interview Sunday with the ABC network's "This Week" programme, the crusading law enforcer said Buffet himself was not a target of the investigation.
But he added: "There are some ambiguities that will be hopefully addressed in our discussion with Mr Buffett."
The investigation is an unwelcome distraction for Buffett, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine to be 44 billion dollars, second only to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Through Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has made a reputation for unimpeachable probity based on long-term investments. He famously eschewed the "dot com" frenzy, with his scepticism vindicated when the market tanked.
04/11/2005 14:47 GMT