Eliot Spitzer launched into an expletive-filled tirade rife with personal attacks on Hank Greenberg and his son, Jeffrey, in 2004, an explosive new court filing reveals.
Spitzer, then in his second term as state attorney general, spewed “derogatory, deeply personal and highly inappropriate expletive-laden comments about [Hank] Greenberg and his son Jeffrey” in front of several assistants, Dennis Vacco, Spitzer’s predecessor, claims in a court filing.
Spitzer’s comments proved to Vacco that Spitzer’s case against Greenberg “was motivated by some unexplained personal animus,” the former Republican law enforcer said in the filing.
Vacco met with Spitzer, then known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” behind closed doors. At the time, Vacco was representing a non-Greenberg owned insurance broker in an unrelated case.
Vacco, according to the filing, believed Spitzer’s tirade was in response to Greenberg’s previous statement that the attorney general’s office was engaging in “unprofessional” conduct and engaging in `‘over-prosecution’’ of minor infractions at insurance businesses of the Greenbergs, including AIG and Marsh & McLennan, headed by Greenberg’s son.
Spitzer filed charges in 2005 against Greenberg and others.
So far, the suit has resulted in no convictions.
Of the eight charges filed by Spitzer against Greenberg and others, all but two have been dismissed. Greenberg was ousted from AIG in 2005 over the uproar.
The two remaining charges could be tried this summer.
Meanwhile, Greenberg’s legal team has been trying for five years to get its hands on private Spitzer e-mails said to be used by the then-AG to carry out official state business.
A judge recently ordered current AG Eric Schneiderman to turn over the e-mails. The issue is still being fought out in court.
Greenberg’s legal eagles hope to find evidence in the personal e-mails to fight the remaining charges.
Schneiderman’s office said it is not its job to search for or obtain e-mails of former employees when those e-mails are not within the possession or control of the government.
Spitzer’s office did not return requests for comment.