Buffett Won’t Have To Turn Over Records, Judge Says
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The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffett, won’t have to turn over some records sought by the former chief of a Berkshire unit whose fraud trial starts January 7.
Judge Christopher Droney, of U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn., ruled yesterday to quash a subpoena from the former chief executive officer of General Reinsurance Corp., Ronald Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson wanted records of communications between Mr. Buffett and two other top General Re executives to help support his claim that Mr. Buffett was involved in sham reinsurance contracts that helped American International Group Inc. inflate reserves by $500 million.
Judge Droney ruled that the records requested to prove frequent contact between Mr. Buffett and the other executives weren’t “probative of whether Ferguson misrepresented Buffett’s approval” of the deal to them.
The case is U.S. v. Ferguson, 06-cr-137, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut (Hartford).
