Ex-Marsh execs on trial in New York

NEW YORK—A criminal trial of two former Marsh Inc. executives began Tuesday in state court in New York, where the men face charges in connection with their alleged roles in efforts at Marsh to rig bids and steer business to favored insurers.

The two former executives of the New York-based brokerage, William Gilman, former managing director and executive marketing director, and Edward J. McNenney, former managing director and global placement director, last year were indicted on felony charges of fraud, restraint-of-trade and competition, and grand larceny.

The indictment charged that from November 1998 to September 2004, Messrs. Gilman and McNenney, among others, colluded with executives at various insurers to rig the market for excess casualty insurance.

Marsh in 2005 agreed to make sweeping management changes and pay $850 million in client restitution to settle civil client-steering and bid-rigging charges leveled by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Several other large brokers and insurers subsequently entered into settlement deals with Mr. Spitzer and other state officials to resolve investigations into their compensation practices.