Buffett Insurance Deals Warrant Spitzer Scrutiny

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If Eliot Spitzer really wants to clean up the insurance industry, he should look into an insurance-like product that has been used again and again to cook companies' books.

Financial reinsurance is the name most frequently given to the product. It has been sold by some of the biggest names in the insurance business -- including companies run by Warren Buffett. It has played a key role in masking weaknesses at a number of companies that have later collapsed, leaving huge, previously undisclosed losses and depriving ordinary people of coverage. ...