The Liffey and the Potomac

A little while back we noted that a Dublin-based insurance executive seemed to be doing the financial equivalent of "helping police with their enquiries" i.e. that they had their man but hadn't managed to clinch the case yet. Well now they have. The Wall Street Journal website (subs. req'd) reports that:

An executive at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s General Re unit agreed to plead guilty to a charge of criminal conspiracy in relation to the company's transaction with American International Group, and will cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission in their investigation of nontraditional insurance products, according to the executive's lawyer.

John Houldsworth, who headed General Re's reinsurance unit in Dublin, faces as many as five years in prison for his role in a 2001 transaction between insurance company AIG and General Re. Mr. Houldsworth agreed to plead guilty to helping AIG mislead shareholders and auditors with the transaction, which improperly boosted AIG's reserves by $500 million.

While in theory he faces 5 years, one suspects that if he dishes sufficient dirt, it could be much shorter than that, not least because his lawyer sounds relatively optimistic:

"John is cooperating fully with the U.S. [Justice Department] and SEC and accepts full responsibility for his role in these matters," Mr. Byrne said in a written statement. "He deeply regrets his actions in working with others to assist in this scheme. John wants to put these regrettable matters behind him and looks forward to returning to the quiet life he shares with his wife and children in rural Ireland."

Now, we thought we read somewhere that he lives in Kinsealy which isn't exactly rural Ireland, but maybe he has fled the sophisticates for a more rustic pad. Perhaps he has in mind the Ireland of J.M. Synge, where a little criminal background just added to one's lustre.