The incoming president of American International Group, one of the world’s largest insurers, abruptly withdrew this week, after The New York Times asked A.I.G. about a romantic relationship involving the executive in a previous job.
John Neal, whose appointment was announced by A.I.G. this summer, “will no longer be joining the company due to personal circumstances,” a spokesman told The Times. Mr. Neal had been considered a strong candidate to succeed A.I.G.’s chief executive, Peter Zaffino.
Mr. Neal engaged in a romantic relationship with his personal assistant at an Australia-based insurer, QBE, in 2017. He failed at the time to disclose the relationship to QBE’s board, which the company’s code of conduct required. The board ultimately learned of the relationship and slashed Mr. Neal’s bonus by $550,000. He stepped down from his role as chief executive there several months later. Several publications covered the departure.
He worked as chief executive of Lloyd’s of London before A.I.G. hired him.
When A.I.G. announced Mr. Neal’s hiring this summer, it referred to his previous employment at QBE but did not mention the circumstances leading to his exit from that company.
In an email on Wednesday, a Times reporter asked an A.I.G. spokesman whether the company was aware of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Neal’s departure from QBE. On Thursday evening, the spokesman, Ed Dandridge, responded with an email stating that A.I.G. and Mr. Neal had reached “a mutual agreement” and he would no longer be joining the company.
Mr. Dandridge declined to elaborate, and a regulatory filing Friday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission about the departure only cited “personal circumstances” as an explanation.
Responding to follow-up questions from The Times, the company offered no further details. The reason for his departure remains unclear.
Mr. Neal had been poised to assume the job of A.I.G. president on Dec. 1, and his LinkedIn profile had still described those plans early Friday. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Neal’s departure comes as a former top executive at A.I.G., David McElroy, faces criminal charges of sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct. Mr. Neal was meant to take over many of the responsibilities of Mr. McElroy, who had been the company’s executive vice president in charge of its general insurance unit. A.I.G., in various statements and responses, did not suggest any connection.
A.I.G. announced last year that Mr. McElroy was retiring “for personal reasons,” just weeks after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman during an A.I.G. retreat in Stowe, Vt. The announcement made no mention of the allegations. Mr. McElroy has denied any wrongdoing.
The alleged sexual assault was said to have occurred in March 2024 at the A.I.G. Winter Summit, an annual gathering that combines business events with ski racing in the Vermont mountains.
A 14-page criminal affidavit from a Vermont state prosecutor said Mr. McElroy arrived at a bar at The Lodge at Spruce Peak resort on March 6 and ordered double shots of tequila for a woman who worked for a travel company and was also attending the A.I.G. retreat.
The woman would later tell a detective with the Stowe Police Department that she woke up hours later in her hotel room while Mr. McElroy was assaulting her. She was naked from the waist down, she said, and had no memory of the last several hours.
According to the criminal affidavit, Mr. McElroy ordered several rounds of Don Julio 1942 for himself and the woman at the bar, and then invited her to have a business conversation in the hotel’s executive lounge. They later made their way to the hotel’s front desk, where they asked a check-in clerk to issue a key to the woman’s room, the affidavit said.
In a sworn statement to the police, the clerk said the woman appeared intoxicated and “kept repeating she wanted to go back to the party.” Mr. McElroy, the clerk told the police, “kept repeating no, that he was going to make sure the female got back to her room safely, and that he was going back to his room afterward.”
Instead, they went to her hotel room, where her clothes were removed and he performed oral sex and penetrated her with his fingers while she was unconscious, according to the affidavit.
The woman told the police, according to the affidavit, “she felt he got her blackout drunk and took advantage of her.”
In his statement to the police, Mr. McElroy said he believed that “they were two consenting adults,” but also acknowledged she may have been impaired.
Mr. McElroy was charged with three counts of sexual assault and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct. He pleaded not guilty and is set to stand trial in March.
Mr. McElroy “emphatically denies the charges,” said Larry Krantz, one of his lawyers. “He is a good man with an impeccable reputation. We intend to defend him vigorously, and he looks forward to his day in court.”
A.I.G. is a $42 billion company with a client list that includes billionaires, banks and behemoths of the global financial markets. Mr. McElroy, who worked for A.I.G. for six years, was compensated more than $9 million in 2023, as a top leader in the firm. Mr. Neal was set for a similarly senior position at the company, and with signing bonuses was in line to make up to about $17 million in his first year.
A.I.G. made no public statements about the allegations against Mr. McElroy, including in announcing his retirement.
In an email to The Times, Mr. Dandridge, the spokesman, said A.I.G. had been made aware of the assault allegations on March 27, 2024, when a criminal subpoena was issued. He said the Vermont authorities had instructed the company to “keep the matter confidential.” He said those instructions included not conducting their own investigation.
A request for confidentiality in a criminal investigation is not unusual, legal experts say, but it almost always has a time limit.
Prosecutors publicly filed the case that November. And by July 2025, several insurance industry publications had published articles about the criminal case against him.
After the charges were filed, said David Sleigh, a defense lawyer in Vermont for four decades, A.I.G. most likely would have been free to conduct an internal investigation and disclose the incident to people connected to the company.
“It’s a matter of public record,” Mr. Sleigh said.
Mr. Dandridge said the company was fully in compliance with disclosure obligations.
Asked if Mr. McElroy received severance pay, Mr. Dandridge responded that Mr. McElroy “did not receive any additional compensation” but did not further elaborate.
In interviews, five former top executives at A.I.G. said they learned about the criminal charges against Mr. McElroy only through the gossip mill. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal personnel matter.
Asked about the safety protocols at the company’s retreats and gatherings, Mr. Dandridge said that A.I.G. “adheres to a strict code of conduct” and “is committed to fostering a safe and ethical business and work environment.”
Paul Heintz contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy and Georgia Gee contributed research.
Debra Kamin is an investigative reporter for The Times who covers wealth and power in New York.
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