Former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg, who is being sued by the company for relieving a trust he set up for employees of $4.3 billion in company shares after being ousted in 2005, told a court today he had “exaggerated” during a 2000 speech he gave, during which he told top employees their stock would remain in trust for “a couple of hundred years.”

“When I said a couple of hundred years, I’m speaking to a group of people and trying to build their morale,” Greenberg testified today. “It’s a motivating speech. A couple of hundred years is an exaggeration. Anybody ... would recognize that that was simply a figure of speech and not a commitment.”

He was just telling a little white lie! To make them feel better! Hahahahahah no. This is wrong on so many levels. Dude really should have gone with, "I'm an old man! I didn't know what I was doing!"

Greenberg Says He ‘Exaggerated’ on Retirement Plan [Bloomberg]