SEC imposes sanctions on ex-General Re exec for setting up sham accounting between Berkshire Hathaway unit and AIG. BLOOMBERG NEWS Omaha.com John Houldsworth, a former executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s General Re reinsurance unit, has been indefinitely suspended by consent from auditing public companies after pleading guilty in an accounting probe. The sanction, imposed in an administrative filing Tuesday, lasts until the Securities and Exchange Commission chooses to lift it, said SEC spokesman John Nester. Houldsworth, who lives in Ireland, agreed to the suspension when he pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of conspiring to violate U.S. securities laws in June. Houldsworth, 46, admitted to helping American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer, use a sham reinsurance contract in 2000 to distort its finances. He also has settled a civil suit from the SEC