Payments stem from financial penalties incurred from the 2006 investigation into sham transactions

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started distributing $800m in payments to eligible current and former shareholders of AIG.

The payments stem from financial penalties incurred from the 2006 investigation alleging that AIG materially falsified its financial statements through a variety of sham transactions.

On Feb. 17, 2006, the court entered a final judgment against AIG—to which AIG neither admitted nor denied. AIG paid a total of $800m ($700m in disgorgement and $100m in penalties).

Kenneth Feinberg, will administer the distribution, made under the ‘Fair Fund’ system of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

“The court's approval of the AIG Distribution Plan is a significant advancement of the Commission's goal to return to eligible investors more than $800 million currently in the Fair Fund.

Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement

Since 2002, SEC enforcement actions have resulted in the return of more than $3.7 billion to investors.

Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said: ‘The court's approval of the AIG Distribution Plan is a significant advancement of the Commission's goal to return to eligible investors more than $800 million currently in the Fair Fund.’

The SEC expects to complete the distribution by early 2009.