Convicted Ex-Gen Re Finance Chief: I Should Have Testified

Accused of participating in a $597 million fraud to deceive shareholders of American International Group Inc. into thinking the insurance giant had $500 million more in loss reserves than it did, Elizabeth Monrad took her lawyer's advice and didn't testify. Doing so, she felt, would not only pose a risk to her own case but could unfairly harm her co-defendants.

But now that the former finance chief of General Reinsurance Corp. has been convicted and is facing as much as life in prison when she is sentenced in federal court in Connecticut, Monrad, 54, says she regrets that decision, reports Bloomberg in a lengthy profile about her perspective on the case.

A certified public accountant, she says she had no idea, until she was charged in case against General Re Chief Executive Officer Ronald Ferguson and other insurance executives, that the government could force an innocent defendant to choose between cooperating with the prosecution, and getting probation, or risking a substantial prison term.

“I was very surprised to see the many advantages prosecutors have over the defense in a criminal trial,” she tells the news agency. “I thought the justice system was more balanced, but it’s not.”