Business Insurance

Login  |  Register Subscribe



Colleen McCarthy

Former Marsh execs seek to have bid-rigging charges thrown out

October 27, 2009 - 5:09pm


NEW YORK—One day after a judge acquitted three former Marsh Inc. executives of criminal charges for their alleged role in a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, an attorney for one of the remaining defendants said he will seek to have charges against his client dismissed.

“I would be very surprised, given yesterday's verdict, if the prosecution wants to move forward,” Stephen P. Scaring of Stephen P. Scaring P.C. in New York, an attorney for former Marsh senior Vp Thomas T. Green Jr., said Tuesday.

Mr. Green and former Marsh Senior Vp William L. McBurnie are the last of seven former Marsh Inc. executives accused in a 2005 indictment by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The brokers were accused of colluding with insurance companies to rig the market for excess casualty placements from 1998-2004.

A status hearing for Mr. Green is scheduled for Nov. 5, Mr. Scaring said. “The charges will either be dismissed or we will go to trial,” he said.

Dane Keller Rutledge, an attorney for Mr. McBurnie, said he and his client “are delighted by Monday's verdicts” but declined to comment further.

On Monday, Joseph Peiser, former managing director and head of Marsh's global broking excess casualty unit; Greg J. Doherty, former Marsh senior vp and ACE USA local broking coordinator team leader; and Kathleen M. Drake, former Marsh managing director and local broking coordinator team leader; were found not guilty of scheme to defraud and restraint of trade charges by New York County Supreme Court Judge James A. Yates. Judge Yates previously dismissed four grand larceny charges against the trio, citing insufficient evidence.

The attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, two former Marsh executives previously found guilty in the case are seeking to have their convictions thrown out due to “prosecutorial misconduct.”

Attorneys for former Marsh managing directors William Gilman and Edward J. McNenney, who were found guilty in 2008 of violating New York's antitrust law, have filed what is known as a 440 motion asking New York County Supreme Court Judge James A. Yates to vacate the judgment.

Messrs. Gilman and McNenney—who were the first former Marsh executives to face trial in the case—were acquitted of all other charges, including fraud and grand larceny, and sentenced to 16 weekends in jail. Their sentences have been stayed pending appeals.

According to documents filed in court, prosecutors “failed to produce or disclose multiple forms of exculpatory evidence.”

Among the nondisclosed material, the motion cites “hundreds of thousands” of documents produced by Liberty International Underwriters, prior statements made by cooperating witnesses to other state's attorneys general, and a prior conviction of one of the prosecution's cooperating witnesses.

Robert Cleary, partner with Proskauer Rose L.L.P. in New York, an attorney for Mr. Gilman, said a ruling in favor of the 440 motion could result in a retrial that would include the previously undisclosed material.

A hearing has not been scheduled.

 



Comments

Add Comment


Loading Comments Loading comments...

You may also want to visit

Marsh & McLennan

Agents & Brokers