NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, the ousted American International Group Inc. chairman accused of accounting fraud, won the right to see an AIG report used to blame him for the insurer?s $3.9 billion restatement.

New York State Judge Charles Ramos ruled on Friday that AIG must show Greenberg the findings of an internal review that triggered the earnings correction last May, said Greenberg spokesman Howard Opinsky. AIG, which argued the document was protected by attorney-client privilege, asked for ten days to prepare an appeal, he said.

The feud over access is the latest battle between AIG, the world?s largest insurer, and the man who ran the company for 38 years. Greenberg?s attorneys need the report?s details to mount a defence against New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer?s allegations he used accounting tricks to polish the company?s earnings, said Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor.

?They need that information to prepare for counter- attacking,?? said Frenkel, who is now in private practice in Rockville, Maryland and isn?t involved in the case. They want the report to reveal an ``underlying reason for moving Mr. Greenberg out of the picture,?? he said.

Chris Winans, a spokesman for New York-based AIG, confirmed the ruling and wouldn?t elaborate. Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette declined to comment.

AIG, also named in Spitzer?s May lawsuit, removed Greenberg last year and may settle for more than $1 billion, a person familiar with the negotiations said last week. The company?s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said Greenberg and former chief financial officer Howard Smith skirted internal controls to alter the company?s books.

The review, triggered by investigations by Spitzer and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was led by law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. It was the basis for a restatement that lowered net income from 2000 to 2004 by ten percent. The company said it had to fix reinsurance contracts and other transactions that understated liabilities and hid losses.

Greenberg, 80, has argued much of the restatement was driven by fear of regulators and said accounting adjustments by senior managers were never done without the auditor?s knowledge. At a January 5 hearing before Ramos, Greenberg?s lawyers said AIG should hand over the report because it had already been shared with Spitzer.

?American International Group was in a cooperative mode with the Attorney General?s office to try to undermine and deflect blame for anything and everything,?? said Boies, Schiller & Flexner lawyer Nicholas Gravante, according to a hearing transcript filed as part of a related case in Manhattan federal court.

AIG?s Paul Weiss attorneys argued that the report shouldn?t be shared with Greenberg because it was written with the expectation that it would remain confidential. They also said Greenberg hadn?t shown a substantial need.

Ramos said he was inclined to rule in Greenberg?s favour, though he waited until yesterday to determine that all of the report should be disclosed.

?Generally speaking, I know we are in the post-Enron world, but people are entitled to due process,?? the transcript cited Ramos as saying. ?The hysteria that followed Enron and WorldCom was just that ? hysteria. The Attorney General?s office will have to come in here and prove their case. If they prove their case, Mr. Greenberg has a problem.??

AIG has separately sued for control of 288 million shares owned by Starr International Co., a private firm controlled by Greenberg that had historically used its stock holdings as deferred compensation for AIG employees.