Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Las Vegas, NV 89118-2070
December 10, 2004
VIA fax @ (808) 586-1239
and e-mail: hawaiiag@hawaii.gov
Mark Bennett, Attorney General
State of Hawaii
425 Queen Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
RE: Request for Criminal Investigation of Marsh & McLennan, Inc.; Aon Corporation; Federal Insurance Co. (Chubb Group); XL Insurance; Kamehameha Schools; P&C Insurance Co.; PricewaterhouseCoopers, et al.
Dear Attorney General Bennett:
I am sure you are aware of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s charges of bid-rigging, bribes, kick-backs and other illegal acts against Marsh & McLennan, Aon, AIG and other insurance brokers and companies. In connection with the evidence that I have previously provided to your office, I call your attention to the following Associated Press news article published December 3, 2004, in the Insurance Journal:
Marsh Admits Overcharging
School Districts
State insurance regulators are investigating Marsh USA, which has acknowledged overcharging six Oregon school districts and Lane Community College since 2000. Marsh, the nation’s biggest insurance brokerage, alerted the districts to the inflated bills in late October and has offered to reimburse them, said Ed Healy, managing partner of Marsh’s office in Portland.
In return for the $1.2 million in reimbursements, Marsh asked its clients to sign a release waiving their right to take legal action against the brokerage. Most of the districts rejected Marsh’s request, and the company agreed to repay them anyway.
The Oregon Insurance Division decided to investigate after learning of the matter last week, said Cory Streisinger, Director of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.
Streisinger said Marsh deserves credit for admitting the overcharges and offering the reimbursements. But she was surprised to learn that Marsh had asked for legal releases in exchange.
“We would expect the brokerage to make restitution unconditionally,” she said. “If a district came to us with a complaint about that practice (of requesting legal releases), that’s certainly something we’d look into.”
School districts in Beaverton and Eugene were told by Marsh that they each had been overcharged more that $180,000 since 2000, district officials told The Oregonian on Tuesday. Officials at Salern-Keizer schools and the Reynolds School District in Troutdale said they each had been overcharged by more than $200,000.
Healy said the overcharges were unrelated to accusations out of New York that the company masterminded widespread insurance bid-rigging.
Eliot Spitzer, New York attorney general, sued Marsh in October claiming the company collected more than $800 million from insurance companies in return for engineering sham bidding and steering them new business.
Spitzer filed his lawsuit October 14. Days later, Marsh alerted its Oregon clients about the overbilling.
Healy said suspicions first arose within the local Marsh office in August. The company then review years of records, determining that a handful of clients had been overcharged.
“We have turned this place upside down,” Healy said. “We have confirmed that it is seven clients who were involved. That is the scope of it, period.”
The school districts and state regulators are not ready to accept Marsh’s version of events. The districts have asked Marsh to pay for an independent audit of Marsh’s services and billings.
< END OF QUOTATION>
Due to numerous new investigations into the alleged criminal activities of Marsh & McLennan, Aon, AIG, and others, and due to this new admission of Marsh & McLennan that they had overcharged these Oregon School Districts, I am again requesting that your office investigate my previous reports of fraud, theft, racketeering, bribes, bid-rigging and other illegal activities involving the entities named above. Further background information regarding these claims can be found at the following website:
www.the-catbird-seat.net/Claims-By-Harmon.htm
As documented by the written evidence that I have previously provided to your office, and to the office of the Hawaii Insurance Commissioner, there can be no doubt that Marsh & McLennan should be required to reimburse Kamehameha Schools and the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, millions of dollars in overcharges and fraudulent insurance premiums, and for their fraudulent mishandling of claims against Kamehameha Schools and its subsidiaries, including P&C Insurance Company, Inc.
Your prompt response to this request is requested. Please contact me for any further information you may require.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
cc: Dee Jay Mailer, CEO, Kamehameha Schools (via fax @ 808-523-6313)
P&C Insurance Co., Inc. (via fax @ 808-523-6313)
Governor Linda Lingle, State of Hawaii (via fax @ 808-586-0006)
Hugh Jones, Deputy Attorney General (via fax @ 808-586-1477)
J.P. Schmidt, Hawaii Insurance Commissioner (via fax @ 808-586-2806)
Janet Hughes, Internal Revenue Service (via fax @ 303-844-3596)
Billy Beaver, Pension & Welfare Benefit Admin. (via fax @ 626-229-1098)
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., U.S. Dept. of Justice (via fax @ 202-514-1116)
Lyn Flanigan Anzai, Hawaii State Bar Association (via e-mail: lanzai@hsba.org)
Susan Tius, Esq., c/o Rush Moore Craven Sutton Morry & Beh
(via fax @ 808-521-0597)
Gerard Jervis, Lokelani Lindsey, Henry Peters, Oswald Stender, and
Richard Wong,
c/o Kenneth Hipp, Esq., Marr Hipp Jones & Pepper
(via fax @ 808-536-6700)
Jeffrey H.K. Sia, Esq., Ayabe Chong Nishimoto Sia & Nakamura
(via fax @ 808-526-3491)
Robert S. Tameler, ALPS, Claims Administrator for Bradley Tamm and
Greg Dunn
(via fax @ 406-728-7416)
Michael F. Perlis, Esq., Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP, Atty for Federal Insurance Co.
(via fax @ 310-556-5959)
Lori Chung, Aon Insurance Managers
(via fax @ 808-540-4301)
Casimer Fidele, Tradewind Insurance Company
(via fax @ 808-521-7489)
PricewaterhouseCoopers, c/o Warren Price III, Esq.
(via fax @ 808-533-0549)
Terry Mullen, CEO/Pres., John Mullen & Co.
(via fax @ 808-531-0053)
Mary Lou Woo, c/o Steven Guttman, Kessner Duca Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga
(via fax @ 808-529-7177 and e-mail: sguttman@kdubm.com)
James B. Farris, Senior Case Manager, American Arbitration Association
(via fax @ 559-490-1919 and e-mail: Farrisj@adr.org)
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