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New York state regulators are nearly finished drafting a civil complaint against American International Group Inc., alleging that the big insurer improperly burnished its financial results and repeatedly duped regulators and investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The document, being written by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer?s office and the New York State Insurance Department, could be filed as soon as this week, although a filing date hasn?t been set, the person said.

AIG?s accounting is the focus of multiple and overlapping probes by state and federal regulators, who contend the firm made questionable accounting manoeuvres in recent years to boost its financial results or to improve ratios that are closely watched on Wall Street.

The civil complaint stems from investigations that first surfaced February 14. A company spokesman had no comment on the status of the civil complaint. AIG is cooperating with all investigations. At the same time, the giant insurance company and its auditors are working feverishly to finish the firm?s thrice-delayed annual report by the company?s May 31 deadline.

In lieu of an annual report, AIG has issued two detailed disclosures of what it believes to be improper or potentially improper accounting manoeuvres in recent years.

In the most recent, dated May 1, the company said reversing these moves would shave about $2.7 billion, or 3 percent, off the company?s net worth.

Meantime, AIG?s former chief executive, Maurice R. ?Hank? Greenberg, is scheduled to huddle in Dublin today with fellow shareholders of a private firm he has run for several years, aiming to pick a future path for the wealthy entity, Starr International Co., which holds about 12 percent of AIG?s shares.

In its statements, AIG has disclosed a range of improper accounting moves that include overstating investment income, masking underwriting losses and valuing assets too highly. The company also contends that about $100 million of the planned restatement stems from ?top-level? accounting manoeuvres allegedly made by top executives.

In March, Mr. Greenberg resigned as CEO and chairman amid pressure from regulators and the company?s board. The company?s chief financial officer, Howard I. Smith, was fired for not cooperating with the investigation. Messrs. Greenberg and Smith are among individuals who are the focus of a grand jury convened in New York to decide whether criminal indictments should be issued stemming from the AIG probes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Greenberg?s representatives in the past have said that AIG?s planned restatement includes transactions that had been approved by the company and its independent auditors.

Mr. Greenberg has told associates he believes he did nothing wrong in the matters. Previously, an attorney representing Mr. Smith has noted that executives at AIG operating units signed off on the same statements now being questioned. A spokesman for Mr. Greenberg had no comment on Starr International meetings held Tuesday or yesterday.

At a gathering in Bermuda yesterday of 12 voting shareholders of Starr International, one topic of conversation was whether AIG may be applying more-conservative accounting in at least some instances than it needs to, a person familiar with the gathering said.

Some accounting experts, reviewing the company?s recent disclosures, have noted that the restatement includes some items that could eventually be seen as defensible.

John Elliott, an accounting professor and dean of Baruch College?s Zicklin School of Business in New York, who studies corporate efforts to manage earnings, said many of the adjustments noted in the disclosures may be more grey than black or white.

?A lot of these adjustments could be judgment calls,? once more information is gathered from Mr. Greenberg and others, he said. He added that ?regulatory pressure can change the way you think of things.?

Meantime, Mr. Greenberg, working in temporary office space on Manhattan?s Upper East Side, is pursuing his next professional move with Starr International and a second offshore entity, C.V. Starr & Co., with long-standing ties to AIG.

Starr International was set up in the 1970s as a deferred-compensation vehicle to reward top employees at AIG, which Mr. Greenberg built into an industry powerhouse in his nearly four decades as CEO.

C.V. Starr operates some specialised insurance agencies, which may soon be sold to AIG or another bidder.

The two Starr entities together own about $19 billion in AIG shares, according to AIG?s most recent proxy filings. Starr is expected to set aside the funds owed current AIG executives under the program, estimated at about $1 billion, but Mr. Greenberg and his fellow shareholders are weighing what direction the entities might take with the remaining AIG shares.

While no decisions have been made and any would require the approval of Starr shareholders one possibility is that the Starr entities evolve into investment funds focusing in and beyond the insurance industry.

In Bermuda yesterday, the Starr International shareholders discussed potential future paths. Today in Dublin, the conversation continues among Starr?s board members.