NEW YORK—A New York state judge Wednesday granted prosecutors' request to dismiss criminal charges against several former insurance executives who pleaded guilty to charges in connection with New York's investigation of bid-rigging and broker compensation practices.
At a hearing Wednesday in New York County Supreme Court, Judge James Yates dismissed outright the misdemeanor charges against six individuals who in 2004 and 2005 had pleaded guilty to criminal charges that they helped broker Marsh Inc. rig bids on client insurance placements.
In addition, Judge Yates reduced three other individuals' felony guilty pleas to misdemeanors. Those remaining misdemeanor charges will be dropped entirely in six months, the judge said, granting the New York attorney general's office's motion to dismiss the charges “in the interest of justice.”
“This action is not an admission that there was anything wrong with the pleas. The factors of this case are specifically unique,” Felice Sontupe, assistant New York attorney general, said at the hearing Wednesday.
The individuals whose misdemeanor charges were dismissed are:
The individuals whose felony charges were reduced are:
The charges were originally brought by former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who had secured 21 guilty pleas as part of his probe into contingent commission practices in the insurance industry. The individuals had accepted plea agreements with prosecutors and cooperated in the state’s investigation. Eight other executives were indicted in 2005 and later faced trial.
A hearing on the remaining individuals who entered guilty pleas in conjunction with the investigation is scheduled for Jan. 29.
In granting the motion to dismiss, Judge Yates said that given the outcome of various trials in the case and “the unjustifiably high cost to the state, this constitutes an injustice in my mind.”
Judge Yates in November dismissed criminal charges against three other individuals: former Marsh Senior Vps Thomas T. Green Jr. and William L. McBurnie, and Geri Mandel, former senior vp at Zurich American Insurance Co.
Previously, Judge Yates acquitted three other Marsh executives of all charges in the case. They are: 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.
In February 2008, former Marsh Managing Directors William Gilman and Edward J. McNenney were found guilty of an antitrust charge but acquitted of other charges and were sentenced to 16 weekends in jail.
Marsh itself did not face any criminal charges in the case but paid $850 million in January 2005 to end officials’ bid-rigging and fraud probes.
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