(Bloomberg) ? C.V. Starr & Co., a group of insurance agencies run by former American International Group Inc. chairman Maurice ?Hank? Greenberg, sued three of its ex-executives, claiming they stole trade secrets and poached employees for AIG.

A complaint filed yesterday in state court in New York claims the three, who now work for AIG, and other unnamed AIG employees have tried to ?systematically destroy? Starr?s business. A Starr lawyer claims they used tactics that include putting up employee-recruitment posters in company bathrooms and copy rooms.

?We are reluctant litigants,? said Lee Wolosky, the lawyer for Starr.

?The Starr companies would like to get on with their lives but faced with the continuing harassment by AIG, we cannot do nothing.?

The suit is the latest sign of the bitter divorce between Greenberg and AIG, the company he ran for 38 years.

AIG, the world?s largest insurer, removed Greenberg amid an accounting probe last year. The agencies of C.V. Starr, started by AIG founder Cornelius Vander Starr, were controlled by AIG under Greenberg?s reign, sharing offices and personnel. They did most of their business with AIG.

Since AIG removed Greenberg, 81, Starr has announced agreements to sell policies from insurers including Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Ace Ltd. and Everest Re Group Ltd.

In the complaint yesterday, the Starr companies claim AIG improperly took files, restricted access to offices that AIG controlled and tried to persuade customers not to deal with the Starr companies.

AIG employees posted recruitment signs in Starr offices and sent e-mails to other AIG workers offering a $2,000 bounty for getting Starr employees to switch companies, according to the suit.

The suit claims AIG raided 71 employees from Starr Technical Risks Agency Inc., or Starr Tech, a New York-based unit that insures oil, chemical and other manufacturing plants. AIG signed another 31 employees in the London office of Atlanta-based Starr Aviation, an airline insurer, the suit claims.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and an order blocking AIG from using any of Starr?s confidential business information.

?This lawsuit exposes a string of illegal activity at AIG designed to eliminate the C.V. Starr agencies,? Starr spokesman Howard Opinsky said in a statement. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued Greenberg in 2005, claiming accounting fraud. Greenberg has run New York-based C.V. Starr as full-time chairman since last year?s split with AIG.

AIG spokesman Chris Winans declined to comment on the suit.

Starr sued Ralph Mucerino, a former Star Tech Vice Chairman who, the company says, has worked for AIG and related companies for more than 25 years; Warren Meigs, the former manager of Starr Tech?s Hartford office; and Robert Kuchinski, a former Starr Tech senior vice president.

AIG restated income last year after an investigation by US regulators and Spitzer.

A group of shareholders separately sued Greenberg and AIG for stock fraud after the company cut five years of reported profits by $3.9 billion.

A later restatement changed the amount to $3.4 billion.

Greenberg denied wrongdoing and is fighting the Spitzer and shareholder suits in court.

AIG shares fell 26 cents to $59.81 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The case is: Starr Technical Risks Agency Inc. v. Mucerino, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.