Marsh & McLennan: The Marsh Birds

Marsh & McLennan:

THE MARSH BIRDS

~ o ~

November 13, 2009

Marsh & McLennan to pay
$435M under settlements

Associated Press

Insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. said Friday it will pay $435 million to settle two class-action lawsuits filed in the wake of allegations of bid rigging and price fixing.

The suits were filed on behalf of three retirement plans that experienced steep losses after the charges were made against the company in 2004. The company's stock dropped precipitously after Eliot Spitzer, then New York's attorney general, announced the charges.

Marsh and McLennan said it does not admit to any wrongdoing under the latest settlements.

Under one settlement, March & McLennan will pay $400 million to pension funds in New Jersey and Ohio. About half that will be covered by insurance, and the remainder will be paid for by cash on hand.

The company also settled for $35 million another class-action suit filed on behalf of a Marsh & McLennan retirement fund. Insurance will cover $25 million of the cost.

In 2005, Marsh and McLennan agreed to pay $850 million to end an investigation into charges it took payoffs from insurance companies to steer clients their way. The company also agreed at the time to change its practices and issue a public apology calling its conduct "unlawful" and "shameful."

"After more than five years of litigation, MMC believes these settlements to be in the best interest of the company and its stockholders," the company said in a statement. "While the company continues to deny all of the claims in these lawsuits, the resolution of these matters puts the litigation arising from the events of 2004 largely behind us and reduces the company's ongoing legal costs."

Shares of Marsh & McLennan slipped 13 cents to $23.86 in afternoon trading.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/11/13/business-financials-us-marsh-amp-mclennan-settlement_7121101.html

October 26, 2009

Former Marsh executives
acquitted of bid-rigging

by The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Three former executives of insurance broker Marsh Inc. were acquitted Monday of bid-rigging, price-fixing and other charges following an 11-month trial in Manhattan.

Attorney Jerry Bernstein said his client, Joseph Peiser, former head of excess casualty at Marsh, and two subordinates were acquitted in a bench trial by State Supreme Court Judge James Yates.

Peiser, Greg Doherty and Kathleen Drake were indicted in 2005 by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The defendants were among eight former Marsh executives accused of colluding with brokers at American International Group Inc. and other major insurance companies to arrange noncompetitive bids for corporate customers.

Bernstein said Monday that Peiser feels "ecstatic and vindicated."

Attorneys for Doherty and Drake didn't immediately respond for a request for comment. A spokesman for the office of the current New York AG, Andrew Cuomo, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Peiser and Doherty had faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison if convicted. Drake faced a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The 2005 indictments came after Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., which owns Marsh Inc., agreed to pay $850 million in restitution to end a civil lawsuit brought by Spitzer, who accused the company of bid-rigging. New York-based Marsh & McLennan denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement. The broker also agreed in May of this year to pay $2.4 million to the state of Connecticut to settle claims of bid rigging, price fixing and receiving kickbacks.

AIG last year agreed to pay nine states and the District of Columbia $12.5 million to resolve charges that some of the company's subsidiaries participated in an intricate bid rigging scheme with Marsh & McLennan and other insurance brokers that led to policyholders being overcharged.

In February, former Marsh executives William Gilman and Edward J. McNenney were found guilty of an antitrust charge but acquitted of other charges; two more executives still are awaiting trial, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Monday.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114192109

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For the latest sightings of dirty Marsh Birds, GO TO...

THE CATBIRD’S NEST

MARSH & McLENNAN: THE MARSH BIRDS

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"GOOGLING THE CATBIRD SEAT FOR MARSH & MCLENNAN FRAUD" - (An Exhibit in CV05-00030 - U S Dept of Justice vs Harmon)

July 12, 2009

From:

Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU

To:

"President Barack Obama" <president@whitehouse.gov>, "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder" <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>, "Judge David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Barry M. Kurren" <tammy_kimura@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Securities & Exchange Commission Enforcement Division" <enforcement@sec.gov>, "U.S. Treasury Dept. Office of Inspector General" <hotline@oig.treas.gov>, "Office of Inspector General US Dept of Justice" <oig.hotline@usdoj.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Judge Robert Faris" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "SEC Office of The Inspector General" <oig@sec.gov>, "Hawaii State Bar Association" <info@hsba.org>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Mark Bennett" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "American Arbitration Association" <webcase@adr.org>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Benjamin J. Cayetano" <bjcayetano@aol.com>, "Lokelani Lindsey" <lindseyl001@hawaii.rr.com>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "David Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "Ian Lind" <diary@ilind.net>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Jack Cashill" <JCashill@aol.com>, "Marshall Chriswell" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Laser Haas" <laserhaas@msn.com>, "Lucy Komisar" <lkomisar@msn.com>, "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com>, "Debra Sweet" <debrasweet@worldcantwait.org>, "Jane Kirtley" <kirt001@umn.edu>, "John Jubinsky" <Jube@tghawaii.com>, "Yamil Berard" <yberard@star-telegram.com>, "Global Exchange" <communications@globalexchange.org>, "William K. Black" <blackw@umkc.edu>, "Carole Williams" <cjwms@up.net>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "Human Rights in China" <hrichina@hrichina.org>, "Michelle Malkin" <writemalkin@gmail.com>, "Phil J. Berg" <philjberg@obamacrimes.com>, "Amnesty International U.S.A." <aimember@aiusa.org>, "Michael Moore" <bailout@michaelmoore.com>, "California Anti-SLAPP Project" <info@casp.net>, "Thomas Fitton" <info@judicialwatch.org>, "Ron Branson" <VictoryUSA@jail4judges.org>, "ACLU of Kentucky" <info@aclu-ky.org>, "ACLU Online" <ACLUOnline@aclu.org>, "Louanne Kam" <lokam@ksbe.edu>, "Paul Kiel" <paul.kiel@propublica.org>, "Fiona Tarazi" <Fiona.Tarazi@propublica.org>, "Eric Martinson" <emartinson@tradewindcap.com>, "Bruce Nakaoka" <bnakaoka@tradewindcap.com>, "Oswald Stender" <info@oha.org>... more

Results 1 - 10 of about 110 for

Marsh McLennan, fraud, kycbs.net. (0.27 seconds)

Search Results

1. Letter to Coopers & Lybrand re Marsh & McLennan fraud - 11-20-96

Harmon's letter to P&C Insurance Company's auditors re excessive charges of Marsh & McLennan.
www.kycbs.net/Coopers-Lybrand-11-20-96.htm - Cached - Similar

2. Marsh & mclennan's Putnam Investments

Putnam is one of Marsh & McLennan's four major divisions. ..... What they heard led to state civil fraud charges against Putnam, the resignation of its CEO, ...
www.kycbs.net/MM-Putnam.htm - Cached - Similar

3. WHAT PRICE WATERHOUSE?

PricewaterhouseCoopers' fraud in this case is just as wrongful as Old Republic's , ...... Defendant Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (M&M) is the world's largest insurance brokerage ...... June 4, 2009: Latest update on www.kycbs.net ...
www.kycbs.net/PriceWaterhouse.htm - Cached - Similar

4. U S Dept of Justice, David C. Farmer, Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness ...

Also, please be advised that I have submitted a fraud report on February 26, 2008, to the National ...... www.kycbs.net/Claims-Branch-Marsh-mclennan.htm ...
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Nicholson-James.htm - Cached - Similar

5. Forbes.com - Comments

Some of the answers can be found at http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm ... AIG is a story of fraud, corruption, money-laundering, racketeering, and greed - pure ... Bank of America, Chubb Group, Goldman Sachs, Marsh & McLennan, and many other ...
rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op=TPage... - Cached - Similar

6. Forbes.com - Comments

Some of the answers can be found at http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm .... AIG is a story of fraud, corruption, money-laundering, racketeering, ... Bank of America, Chubb Group, Goldman Sachs, Marsh & McLennan, and many other members of ...
rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op=TPage... - Cached - Similar

7. Forbes.com - Comments

Some of the answers can be found at http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm ... Bank of America, Chubb Group, Goldman Sachs, Marsh & McLennan, and many other members of ... Is anyone investigating AIG's massive fraud, theft, bribery, racketeering, ...
rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op...1... - Cached - Similar

8. Henry Peters: ZoomInfo Business People Information

www.kycbs.net/IndonesianConnection.htm - [Cached Version] .... (Note: Marsh & McLennan, and its subsidiary, Guy Carpenter, were major players in the ...
www.zoominfo.com/people/Peters_Henry_150700367.aspx - Cached - Similar

9. Hamilton McCubbin: ZoomInfo Business People Information

www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Motion-Recuse-Chang.htm - [Cached Version] ... Ho, Milton Holt, Richard Humphreys (Marsh & McLennan), Marshall K. Ige, ...
www.zoominfo.com/.../McCubbin_Hamilton_5165967.aspx - Cached - Similar

10. Cats & Birds Archive Site (Quiet Observation) - CNBC Board

MARSH BIRDS - A birds-eye view of Marsh & mclennan - the world's largest insurance ...... (Date Posted:03/27/2009 04:50 AM). http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm ...
- Cached - Similar

http://www.google.com/search?q=Marsh+McLennan,+fraud,+kycbs.net&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS283US284&filter=0

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July 12, 2009

Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Trustee Farmer, Mr. Guttman, Ms. Neustadter, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, and All Concerned:

Due to the new discovery of facts that directly relate to this lawsuit which violates my constitutional rights of Free Speech and a Fair Trial, and Federal and State Anti-SLAPP statutes, I am adding the subject Exhibit.

You will find related information online at:

http://www.kycbs.net/MarshBirds.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Mid-Ocean.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/MM-Guy-Carpenter.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/MM-Mercer.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/MM-Putnam.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/911-COVERUP.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/ACE.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Allied-World-Assurance.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Aon.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/ChubbGroup.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/PriceWaterhouse.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-in-Paradise.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/XL.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Zurich.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Aipa-Nathan.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Peters-Henry.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Takabuki-Matsuo.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Kam-Louanne.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Wong-Colleen.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Sansone-Rocco.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Lowe-Peter.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Lee-Christine.htm

Mr. Farmer and Mr. Guttman, in spite of all this factual evidence (not just "political opinions" or "conspiracy theories" as you have previously alleged), I am again asking that we attempt to reach a global settlement of this matter through confidential negotiation or mediation rather than continuing these costly and seemingly-endless court proceedings.

However, if you and your insurance carriers are still not willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate settlement in these cases, then I ask that you perform your mandated review of these two Exhibits in accordance with Judge Ezra's Order, and advise me, whether or not, you find that they are relevant and if they contain any so-called "protected subject matter".

I respectfully request your immediate reply. If I do not receive a response from you or your insurance carrier within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "PSM" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion.

Very truly yours,

Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM

Additional References:

http://www.kycbs.net/

http://www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/BH-CHRON-88-96.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/BH-CHRON-97-99.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/BH-Settlement-Chronology.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-OUST-vs-Harmon.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/HarmonArbitration.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-in-Paradise.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/SLAPP.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Whistler.htm

http://voy.com/129276/

http://whistlersongs.blogspot.com

http://www.kycbs.net/Exhibit-Google-Catbird-Seat-Marsh-Fraud.htm

May 19, 2009

RE: CV05-00030 - U.S. Dept of Justice, David C. Farmer, Trustee vs. Bobby N. Harmon - New Exhibit: "Marsh & McLennan & AON have participated for decades in fraud and bid rigging..."

From:

Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU

To:

Cc:

"ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "David Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Don Michak" <dmichak@journalinquirer.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "Ian Lind" <diary@ilind.net>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Malia Zimmerman" <Malia@hawaiireporter.com>, "Jack Cashill" <JCashill@aol.com>, "Marshall Chriswell" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Laser Haas" <laserhaas@msn.com>, "Lucy Komisar" <lkomisar@msn.com>, "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com>, "Debra Sweet" <debrasweet@worldcantwait.org>, "Jane Kirtley" <kirt001@umn.edu>, "V K Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>, "John Jubinsky" <Jube@tghawaii.com>, "Yamil Berard" <yberard@star-telegram.com>, "Global Exchange" <communications@globalexchange.org>, "William K. Black" <blackw@umkc.edu>, "Carole Williams" <cjwms@up.net>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "Human Rights in China" <hrichina@hrichina.org>, "Michelle Malkin" <writemalkin@gmail.com>, "Heather Vsn Doren" <heather.vandoran@yahoo.com>, "Phil J. Berg" <philjberg@obamacrimes.com>, "Amnesty International U.S.A." <aimember@aiusa.org>, "Michael Moore" <bailout@michaelmoore.com>, "California Anti-SLAPP Project" <info@casp.net>, "Thomas Fitton" <info@judicialwatch.org>, "Ron Branson" <VictoryUSA@jail4judges.org>

California Insurance Fraud Attorneys

The Law Offices of Nadrich & Cohen, LLP, a successful and aggressive California and nationwide law firm is seeking appropriate companies and/or individuals who have utilized Marsh & McLennan or AON as their insurance brokers for placement of insurance policies. Marsh & McLennan & AON have participated for decades in fraud and bid rigging by placing its clients' insurance with certain carriers solely to obtain additional commissions undisclosed to their clients. What Marsh & McLennan and AON clients did not know was that a secret commission was paid to Marsh & McLennan or AON for their insurance placement in addition to the disclosed brokerage fee.

Unlike markets for securities, commodities, and other financial products, commercial insurance is bought and sold in private. Insurance brokers such as Marsh & McLennan & AON are no more than middle-men who match up buyers and sellers in return for a cut of the transaction. Marsh & McLennan is the leader in selling property casualty coverage to businesses around the world. Industry wide, premiums paid last year just in the United States totaled $176 billion.

The bid-rigging scheme worked as follows: Marsh & McLennan or AON steered business toward certain insurance companies at designated prices. They then would solicit additional artificial higher fake bids from other companies to give the appearance to the client of real bidding. Marsh & McLennan did this even as it claimed in public statements that its "guiding principles" was to consider its clients' best interests "first and foremost."

By this activity, Marsh clearly did not consider its client's best interest "first and foremost."

The kick-back scheme worked as follows: Insurance brokers such as Marsh & McLennan & AON received directly from insurance companies additional secret commissions over and above their ordinary commissions. These commissions were paid for steering volume business to a particular company's way. Insurance companies called these fees "contingent commissions" or "market service agreements". The client never knew.

Critics call these commissions for what they are:

"undisclosed kickbacks."

These improper fee arrangements date back for decades. Many insurance industry executives say it was known to select insiders that these arrangements were in place in order to boost insurance brokers' revenue.

However, these payments were never disclosed to the insured/client to which the brokers owed a fiduciary duty to. Critics and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer maintain these practices are poorly disclosed and are a conflict of interest for brokers ostensibly acting on a policy holder's behalf.

Attorney General Spitzer has obtained documentation of employees of AIG who supplied fake quotes to provide the illusion of competitive bidding for Marsh & McLennan clients knowing; at all times, that another insurance company would nonetheless win the bid. Attorney General Spitzer's investigation includes AIG Insurance Company, Bermuda based Ace Insurance Company, Hartford Insurance Company and others.

Marsh & McLennan received $800 million in revenue from contingent commissions in 2003 - the equivalent of more than half of its $1.5 billion income.

Marsh & McLennan cheated its own corporate clients by rigging bids and wrongfully collecting huge fees from insurance companys for throwing business their way. They purposefully did not disclose these fees to their clients. If this occurred to you and/or your company, please immediately contact our experienced insurance class action law firm as we are vigorously investigating a class action against Marsh & McLennan and AON.

The effect of contingent commissions are that they wrongfully reward brokers for hitting profit or volume targets and thus provide brokers a financial incentive to choose one company over another, even if the other company offered a better price or better terms.

Nadrich & Cohen, LLP and co-counsel are actively interviewing Marsh and AON's clients for purposes of bringing a civil lawsuit against Marsh & McLennan and/or AON. The lawsuit's basis will be that the incentive fees or contingent commissions or placement service agreements paid in exchange for sending more business to an insurance company's way were in reality, wrongful commissions which defrauded the policy holder by not intentionally providing the policy holder with the best deal possible. The cost of insurance was also artificially raised, forcing buyers to pay higher premiums, thus further cheating buyers.

The lawsuit will seek to have contingent commissions declared illegal, recover damages for Marsh customers and forces Marsh & McLennan to give up illegal profits.

Nadrich & Cohen, LLP and its co-counsel are pursuing a separate class action to demand reimbursement to Marsh & McLennan stock investors because Marsh's wrongful actions devalued the price of the stock.

The Law Offices of Nadrich & Cohen, LLP is seeking clients of Marsh & McLennan who were victims of the undisclosed contingent commission bid-rigging and other anti-competitive activities. We strongly believe Marsh's actions harmed its clients by keeping their insurance prices artificially inflated.

Our law firm is an experienced and aggressive insurance fraud law firm actively seeking policy holders who purchased insurance through Marsh & McLennan or AON, Inc.

Companies that we know who are involved in the bid-rigging process included AIG or American International Group, Hartford Fire Insurance Company, Chubb Indemnity Corp., and other insurances.

If you or your business purchased insurance through Marsh & McLennan of AON, please contact us immediately. Nadrich & Cohen, LLP works on a contingent fee basis only. We are paid a fee only if we obtain a recovery. If we do not obtain a recovery our clients owe us nothing for our services.

http://www.insurance-broker-fraud.com/

* * * * *

May 19, 2009

Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Trustee Farmer, Mr. Guttman, and All Concerned:

Due to the discovery of new facts, I am adding the subject Exhibit as it relates to this lawsuit which violates my Constitutional Rights of Free Speech and a Fair Trial, and Federal and Hawaii Anti-SLAPP statutes. You will find related information on-line at:

http://www.kycbs.net/AIG.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Allied-World-Assurance.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Aon.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Bad-Faith-Buzzards.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/ChubbGroup.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Hartford.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Insurance-Vampires.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/MarshBirds.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Mid-Ocean.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-BH.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Vesta.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/XL.htm

http://www.kycbs.net/Zurich.htm

In view of all the facts that I have presented in this and hundreds of other Exhibits and witness descriptions, it is beyond comprehension that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Assistant U.S. Trustees Curtis Ching, Gayle Lau and Carol Muranaka; Judges Eden Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Kevin Chang, David Ezra, Barry Kurren, Lloyd King and Robert Faris; Trustees Mary Lou Woo, James Nicholson and David C. Farmer; American Arbitration Association arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua, attorney Steven Guttman, and others, can still claim that they were non-conflicted, fair, impartial, and unbiased in this case.

However, if you, and your insurance carriers, are still not willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, then I ask that you perform your mandated review of this new Exhibit in accordance with Judge Ezra's Order, and advise me if you find it contains any so-called "protected subject matter", and whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.

Very truly yours,

Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM

Additional References:

http://www.kycbs.net/

http://voy.com/129276/

http://whistlersongs.blogspot.com

December 21, 2007

Marsh & McLennan's
CEO Shake Up
Ruthie Ackerman, Forbes

Ailing insurance broker Marsh & McLennan announced on Friday it was hoping to boost shareholder value by replacing its embattled Chief Executive Michael Cherkasky and evaluating its other businesses, making it sound like it may be putting all, or at least some, of its businesses up for sale.

Cherkasky has held the position since October 2004.

The New York-based Marsh & McLennan said it's begun its search for Cherkasky’s replacement and that a change in leadership will help the company move forward. Cherkasky will continue to serve as the CEO while the search is conducted.

Citigroup analyst Keith F. Walsh said that during Cherkasky's three-year tenure its Marsh brokerage unit, its core business, underperformed on sales, margins, and share price, allowing its competitor Aon to usurp its position as the world's largest insurance broker.

Walsh estimates that Cherkasky will receive a severance package of up to $27 million, or 3 cents per share after taxes, based on the company's 2007 proxy statement.

Rob Haines, an analyst at CreditSights, said the company has experienced a lot of negative morale over the last several years as the stock dropped significantly and many employees defected to insurance startups like Integra, or other larger firms. “Cherkasky was really not viewed by the market as an insurance guy,” Haines said. “He wasn’t liked by investors, and not internally, either. But he was a good caretaker.”

Cherkasky’s caretaker role stemmed from his help pulling the company out of a scandal with then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer pounded the company for accepting payments to steer clients from insurers. Spitzer called the payments kickbacks and charges ensued. Cherkasky, a friend of Spitzer’s, was able to negotiate an $800 million settlement. But the deal hurt the company because it was forced to lose a substantial amount of its revenue from insurers.

But Cherkasky was never an insurance guy. He was from a regulatory background, Haines said. And he just wasn’t able to get the company over its hump. “It was one disappointment after another. He had his shot and he didn’t get it done,” Haines said....

Stephen R. Hardis, the non-executive chairman of the board, pointed to the company’s worse-than-expected financial performance and concerns raised by the company’s largest shareholders as the reason for the ouster.

Hardis said the board will evaluate all of its options for enhancing shareholder value, which includes maximizing capital structure, reviewing its mix of businesses, and improving operating performance, especially at its core business, Marsh.

“To that end, we hired Dan Glaser as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh to significantly improve Marsh’s profitability,” Hardis said. “The Board believes that the full recovery of Marsh is essential to maximizing shareholder value in the most prudent and sustainable manner.”

Walsh said he thinks it will take time for Marsh to turn itself around. "While it appears new brokerage head Daniel Glaser has an extensive insurance background, we believe the problems at Marsh will take a long time to resolve," he said. Walsh pointed out that it took Aon two years to turn itself around after it hired Greg Case in April 2005, but now Walsh would much rather invest in Aon or even Willis Group Holdings than Marsh because their management teams have proven they can grow sales, margins and earnings per share despite soft pricing.

Haines thinks Marsh & McLennan will split the company in three and sell off Mercer, its consulting, outsourcing and investment services business and Kroll its security consulting business, to focus on Marsh.

“There are really no synergies between these companies and actually because of the regulatory environment there are now probably negative synergies between the companies,” Haines said.

Marsh & McLennan will most likely look for a replacement for Cherkasky that is willing to split up the company. Word on the Street is that Glaser, a former executive at American International Group hired as the head of the Marsh unit in November, is an obvious choice.

Five years ago Marsh was considered the gold standard in insurance brokerage. But over the last several years it has been crushed. In August the company sold its Putnam asset management unit to Canada’s Great-West Lifeco for $3.9 billion.

If the company is to prosper again, Haines thinks it will need to focus on its brokers and broker relationships.

Haines thinks the move to replace Cherkasky is a good one. Investors seem to agree. The company’s shares jumped 5.3%, or $1.32, to $26.21 at the close. Aon’s shares rose shot up 1.9%, or 91 cents, to $49.11 on Friday. Willis Group Holdings shares soared 3.7%, or $1.36, to $38.48.

October 1, 2007

Breakup talk rattles Marsh

Stock stuck near Spitzer-era low. All analysts on hold (or worse).
Top Mercer consultants vulnerable to raids.

By Matthew Quinn , Susan Kelly, Financial Week

Last week, Marsh & McLennan lost its last “buy” rating among the 15 analysts tracking the stock after ousting the head of its insurance brokerage business the week before. The company, still reeling from a bid-rigging investigation led by former New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer, is once again faced with the question: Is it time to break up, or even sell altogether?

Analysts said Marsh & McLennan’s components are likely worth more than the value that the stock market assigns to the company as a whole. The company’s stock hit $24.02 last month in the wake of the departure of Marsh Inc. chief executive Brian Storms, its lowest level since 2004, when Mr. Spitzer launched his investigation.

Last Friday afternoon, its shares closed at $25.50....

MMC’s weak share price makes the company susceptible to employee poaching, as equity awards are a significant part of overall compensation. That’s a particularly scary proposition considering the company’s product is basically the intellectual abilities of its employees.

“As long as the company remains in disarray, you’re going to have people looking for alternative places to work—and no shortage of companies looking to hire them,” Mr. Shields said.

Mr. Shields suggested that there would be “significant value to be unlocked” at Marsh’s consulting businesses, which include Mercer, Kroll and Oliver Wyman Group. He noted, though, that he assumed “a very static valuation for the insurance brokerage.”...

MMC’s president and CEO, Michael Cherkasky, has maintained that the company works well as a whole. “He believes the strategy of keeping these particular companies under one umbrella is the right one,” said Christine Walton, a company spokeswoman.

Of the three big insurance brokerages, Marsh was hit the hardest by the end of contingent commissions and the bid-rigging scandal. Marsh & McLennan paid $850 million to settle charges, while rivals Aon and Willis Group paid a combined $240 million. Aside from the obvious financial impact of the settlement, the investigation was devastating to Marsh & McLennan’s reputation.

MMC has made efforts to improve its share price, including the sale of Putnam Investments earlier this year to Power Financial for $3.9 billion, the proceeds of which are being used to buy back $800 million in shares. Regardless, its share price leaves it vulnerable to overtures from potential buyers.

Last year, reports surfaced that Willis had offered to buy Marsh & McLennan, with the support of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which used to own Willis before the broker went public in 2001....

URL for this article:

http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071001/REG/70928028/1003/INSURANCERISKMANAGEMENT

September 29, 2006

9/11 and the Greenberg Familia

By Jerry Mazza, Online Journal

Democratic Underground Demopedia reports in Who Killed John O’Neill that at the time of 9/11, AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, and subsidiaries Marsh McLennan, ACE and Kroll, were run by the Greenberg family. With Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) member Maurice “Hank” Greenberg as the AIG godfather, the Familia’s tentacles curled around the heart of the tragedy.

Hank’s son Jeffrey, a CFR member as well, was chairman of Marsh & McLennan, situated on floors throughout the North Tower of the World Trade Center as well as the top floors of the South Tower. Marsh also had ties to the CIA. Son Evan Greenberg, a CFR member, was CEO of ACE Limited, situated in Tower 7, which also contained AIG subsidiary Kroll, closely related to the CIA, also with an office in Tower 7.

Tower 7 also contained offices of the FBI, Department of Defense, IRS (which contained prodigious amounts of corporate tax fraud, including Enron’s), US Secret Service, Securities & Exchange Commission (with more stock fraud records), and Citibank’s Salomon Smith Barney, the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management and many other financial institutions.

Greenberg’s cousin, Alan “Ace” Greenberg, was former CEO of Bear Sterns, where the Bush family, Cheney family George Schultz, James Baker, et al, did business. It is the leading brokerage firm of the great and all-powerful Bush Familia.

Also reported by Democratic Underground, AIG’s Kroll “provided protection services,” among other things, to high level Americans at home and abroad. Kroll had military teams in their company and merged with Armor Holdings on August 23, 2001, adding Defence Systems Limited, another private military corporation, to their operation, and an ex-KGB team called Alpha Firm earlier acquired by Defense Systems Limited. These four teams could have been used on 9/11, part of a “corporatizing” of black ops in tandem with military teams.

According to whistleblower Richard Grove, who worked as a senior manager for SilverStream Software on Marsh and AIG accounts, Kroll also managed the Enron fraud once Kenneth Lay stepped down.

Marsh, immediately after 9/11, established a specialized terrorism team called Marsh Crisis Consultancy (led by L. Paul Bremer III), adding the teams Control Risks Group, a British ex-SAS team and Versar, bio-terrorism and homeland defense team. These players could have known each other from 9/11, bringing in new assignments and profits.

Democratic Underground also reports, AIG allegedly was laundering drug money, and was involved in the Afghanistan oil and gas pipelines. Greenberg and the Adnan Khasshogi family allegedly benefited from the Afghanistan narcotics trade and interests in the oil and gas pipelines, as well.

Greenberg’s Law Firm Connections to Bush

According to www.sourcewatch.org, the Greenbergs were and are connected to the Bush Familia via their Miami-based law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, a 1,350-lawyer, full-service international firm. Here are a few connects . . .

1) G-T represented George W. Bush in the Bush-Gore 2000 Florida election vote recount.

2) They personally represent Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

3) They hired son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Election Day 2000 -- after which Justice Scalia cast one of the 5 to 4 deciding votes that placed Bush in the White House.

4) They partially funded/sponsored a delegation to Israel by House-Senate Armed Services Committee members and government contractors to witness and be briefed on interrogations resistance procedures and torture techniques.

5) The firm has prominent administrative positions in Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, which also involves Bush family banking house Brown Brothers Harriman (the same BBH involved with Prescott Bush’s bankrolling the Nazis in World War II).

6) Traurig Greenberg works with 9-11 victims on planning their US government “hushmail/bribery estates.” That is, to receive the money, the victim’s family must sign an agreement never to sue the government for any reason. Victim-wife Ellen Mariani is currently being legally harassed for not signing and for holding the Bush government’s feet to the fire.

7) Bush still owes the Greenberg Traurig firm nearly $1 million for work done by dozens of lawyers and paralegals, leaving questions why a Republican candidate would hire a Democratic lawyer from a Democratic firm. See Greenberg Traurig link above for more scandals.

Greenberg’s Relationship to Larry Silverstein

On July 24, 2001, six weeks before 9/11, Larry Silverstein took control of the lease of all the WTC buildings. This followed the Port Authority decision on April 26.

According to democraticunderground.com, the three companies who originally insured the WTC were AIG, Marsh and ACE, all run as mentioned by the Greenbergs at the time. They then sold stakes of the original contract to their competition, a technique called reinsuring.

Once the Towers came down, the reinsurers got caught holding the bag. This would inextricably tie the Greenbergs to Silverstein and the larger conspiracy of 9/11. If they had no foreknowledge of events to occur, why would the Greenbergs have unloaded so many stakes in their contract?

According to Michel Chossudovsky in Financial Bonanza behind the 9/11 Tragedy, “On October 17, 2000, eleven months before 9/11, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, of The Blackstone Group, L.P, purchased, from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, the participating mortgage secured by World Trade Center, Building 7.1.” [Blackstone in 2000 also purchased a 50 percent stake in Universal Studios, producers of the myth-perpetuating Flight 93.]

“April 26, 2001 the Port Authority leased the WTC for 99 years to Silverstein Properties and Westfield America Inc.

“The transaction was authorised by Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg. This transfer from the New York and New Jersey Port Authority was tantamount to the privatisation of the WTC Complex. The official press release described it as ‘the richest real estate prize in New York City history.’ The retail space underneath the complex was leased to Westfield America Inc.

“On 24 July 2001, 6 weeks prior to 9/11 Silverstein took control of the lease of the WTC following the Port Authority decision on April 26.

“Silverstein and Frank Lowy, CEO of Westefield Inc. took control of the 10.6 million-square-foot WTC complex.

"Lowy leased the shopping concourse called the Mall at the WTC, which comprised about 427,000 square feet of retail space.”

“Explicitly included in the agreement was that Silverstein and Westfield ‘were given the right to rebuild the structures if they were destroyed.'’

“In this transaction, Silverstein signed a rental contract for the WTC over 99 years amounting to 3.2 billion dollars in installments to be made to the Port Authority: 800 million covered fees including a down payment of the order of 100 million dollars. Of this amount, Silverstein put in 14 million dollars of his own money. The annual payment on the lease was of the order of 115 million dollars.

“In the wake of the WTC attacks, Silverstein is suing for some $7.1 billion in insurance money, double the amount of the value of the 99 year lease.” In fact, some $5 billion was actually returned, given the multiple court-case protests of the insurers.

“The mortgaging of the WTC was handled by The Blackstone Group, headed by Peter J. Peterson, current head of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The Blackstone Group also bought a piece of Kroll in 1993 at the very same time AIG took over majority control. Henry Kissinger sits on the board of the Blackstone Group.”

By his own admission Silverstein had Tower 7 pulled by controlled internal demolition eight hours after the first two hits. No plane hit Tower 7. There were two small fires in it that were under control. In fact, it takes weeks, months to set up a building to be pulled. So his order to “pull it” catches him in a huge lie.

Tower 7 may have been the nexus of the operations. That may have been the real reason to pull it. In fact, it may have been set up weeks in advance with Towers 1 and 2 for demolition. Ironically, Tower 7 is the only tower that has been rebuilt, and more opulently than its predecessor, although tenancy is about 18 percent.

Towers Taken Down for Profit and to Blame Muslims

Given the involvement of the Greenbergs and Silverstein, and other commercial entities that stood to profit hugely, it is difficult to believe 9/11 occurred at the hands of 19 rag-tag Muslims with box-cutters and the help of their leader, Osama bin Laden, sitting in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan with his laptop and dialysis equipment.

The real reasons behind 9/11 were financial greed and the willingness to demonize Muslims for the “Pearl Harbor-type” act that would instigate America to wage a war on terror, pursuing PNAC’s (Project for a New American Century) goal of World Hegemony.

The latest documentary on the WTC, The 911 Mysteries from 911WeKnow.com, provides highly convincing proof that the buildings were taken down in six fatal steps. They involved the use of high-powered explosives, including thermite and/or thermate, with techniques more advanced than those of traditional controlled-demolition companies, most likely the military’s, given their bunker buster technology. The six steps are . . .

11. Pre-collapse sub-basement explosions

12. Pre-collapse interior blasts

13. Pre-collapse ground level explosions

14. Top level collapse initiation

15. Mid Collapse Squibs (explosions)

16. Final time-delayed rolls (explosions)

Without all these steps, the Towers could never have free-fallen in 10 seconds, the speed of gravity. Any obstacles or pancaking had to be eliminated otherwise the number of seconds of fall would increase dramatically. The documentary also reminds us that on February 13, 1975 there was a major fire on the 11th floor of the North Tower that did not topple it, though the loss was estimated at over $2 million, no mean event. Check it out.

It is possible that in 1996, when Securacom took over WTC security and installed a new $8.3 million security system, that the explosives and charges were also put in place. Sitting on the board of Securacom was the director Marvin Bush, George Bush’s younger brother.

In any case, this is patently the confluence of the military/industrial complex with a healthy dose of Wall Street, earning millions if not billions in put and call options on companies involved with the catastrophe, including airlines on the down (put) side and military suppliers on the up (call) side. In addition, there is the missing gold from the basement of Tower 4, $200 million of which was retrieved, and an untold amount stolen.

The real bottom line was that the Towers were two financial white elephants. And both Silverstein and Greenberg had to know that. The tenancy was dropping. They were out of date. And most dangerously, they were asbestos bombs, loaded with the dangerous building material when they were completed in 1972-73.

By law the buildings could not be taken down by internal demolition. And since it would cost a billion dollars or more to take the towers down beam by beam, it would be at great loss to the Port of Authority or its leaseholder. Thus the reasons are obvious to take WTC down in act of terror also a false-flag operation.

Remember, the concept for the WTC Towers originated with the Nelson and David Rockefeller, members of the Council on Foreign Relations and among the world’s elites. A “New Pearl Harbor” would serve those interests well.

Additional Connections to Greenberg

John O’Neill, mentioned in the first paragraph, was the FBI anti-terror chief who spent years trying to track down bin Laden and “al Qaeda” members. At every point, he was stopped or frustrated by his superiors. Finally, O’Neill parted company with the FBI. Jerome Hauer, who formerly worked for Kroll, got him the job as chief of security at the WTC. On 9/11, O’Neill lost his life in the North Tower.

Mr. Hauer’s job as Kroll chief was also held by Michael Cherkasky, who came out of the New York County District Attorney’s Office, which also brought us Rudy Giuliani, Elliot Spitzer and Patrick Fitzgerald. Mr. Cherkasky also brought Mr. Spitzer into the NYC County DA’s office. Today Cherkasky is a substantial contributor to Spitzer’s campaign for New York State Governor. Cherkasky was bumped up to head Marsh McLennan in 2004.

As an aside, there were about 200 electrical engineers working in the World Trade Center around the time. Additionally, AMEC and Tully Construction played a major role in the clean up of Ground Zero and both have specialized controlled demolition companies.

Lastly, can you believe that one of the Council on Foreign Relations members who engaged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran in a debate about the holocaust at CFR’s reception last week was none other than Hank Greenberg, who said he witnessed the Dachau camp as Germany fell? Could it all possibly be payback and then some?

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/printer_1261.shtml

For more, GO TO > > > Axis of Evil

June 23, 2006

Message from a 9-11 Whistle-blower

From 8th Estate Public Media & Research:

My name is Richard Grove ...

In the summer of 2001, I was terminated from my job for raising questions about “anomalous” fiscal transactions.

On August 21st, 2001, I was bribed by my ex-employer to “keep quiet”.

On September 7th, 2001, I contacted ex-coworkers and was urged to present my evidence in a staff meeting the following Tuesday morning.

The staff meeting, which I was to join during a break, was interrupted; and I never made it there. I was in traffic in Lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11th, 2001; and the meeting I was to attend was on the 96th floor of WTC 1 (the North Tower) at Marsh & McLennan, the company for whom my ex-employer had been staffing a software project.

There I sat in traffic, watching black smoke pour out of the hole in the side of the building- directly where my ex-coworkers and I were to confront a certain Marsh Executive involved with the anomalous financial activity that triggered my untimely termination.

As I’ve learned more, and more about what happened that day, I’ve focused less on the controversial “How” (i.e. HOW the real terrorists perpetrated a multi-dimensional plan through which they would simultaneously undermine the Constitution, steal hundreds of billions of dollars, profitably solve an “unsolvable” real-estate crises, and launch a never-ending crusade throughout the globe in the name of the terrorist attacks that they themselves created).

Instead I’ve focused on the “Who” and “Why”, as the financial records left in the wake of their exodus following their crimes is much easier to prove in Court- specifically Marsh’s involvement in betting against American Airlines pre-9-11… a clear indicator of foreknowledge, as the insider trading of the airline stocks was clearly a pre-meditative strategy, determined to profit from the mass murder...

To summarize, what I’ve discovered ... based on my own personal experiences and research, not based on what the mass media and traditional newspapers have programmed me to repeat:

1. The events of September 11th, 2001(as extensive research and factual documentation depict) do not resemble in any way, shape, or form, what has been faithfully recited ad nauseam by the mainstream media and press within the United States.

2. The aforementioned mainstream media and press are very much aware at the helms of all organizations, and are provably complicit to the state sponsored terrorism that affects each and every one of us...

3. The evidence reflects that people who we trust and revere as “leaders”, specifically: Rudolph Guiliani (ex-New York Mayor, 2008 Presidential hopeful), George Pataki (current Governor of New York), Eliot Spitzer (New York State Attorney General, running for New York State Governor), and of course, the 1970’s White House “Team B” (now known as neo-cons – or “new-cons”, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz) right up through George H.W. Bush, and the current President George W. Bush… are in fact working on the Terrorists behalf, if they are not the Terrorists themselves (and at the very least, are all professional gangsters).

4. In order for 9-11 to be perpetrated, the Terrorists needed control of elements of the highest echelons of the Intelligence Community and the Defense Department...

5. In order for 9-11 to be “successful” in the eyes of the Terrorists, total control of the U.S. Media Markets was necessary....

6. Critical Elements of the Intelligence Community of the United States, as well as the U.S. Military, in association with NATO, have been strictly controlling and manipulating Black Markets, Arms Markets, and, specifically in reference to 9-11, Global Illicit Drug Market.

7. American International Group, a.k.a. AIG (is the world’s largest insurance company). Until recently AIG’s CEO (as you will soon learn elsewhere throughout 8thestate.com) was Maurice “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg; ex-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and ex-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). AIG’s foundation grew out of Cornelius V. Starr’s “insurance work” between China and the U.S. in 1919. AIG since the 1950’s has been a front created by U.S. Intelligence interests for the purpose of laundering drug money, under the ruse of Insurance, and noting that C.V. Starr’s career in Intelligence and AIG’s ties to the “Air America” Military Drug Caravan were not coincidental.

8. The “Terrorists” are those who participate in and profit from the Global Illegal Drug Market, and the people who are in the front lines of controlling this market are Politicians, Media Moguls, Military Officers, Intelligence Directors, Insurance Companies, and the Counter Terrorist “Experts” themselves....

The hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal drug money that is annually laundered via this scheme is then “processed” through the U.S. Stock Market, and aggregated by companies like AIG and Marsh & McLennan (the world’s largest Insurance Broker, which until Eliot Spitzer’s pseudo-investigation had Jeff Greenberg, Hank’s son, as it’s CEO) with the help of companies like Kroll Associates (Private Intelligence Firm responsible for World Trade Center Security from 1993 to 2001, coincidentally owned by AIG and sold to Marsh in 2004… Kroll CEO Michael Cherkasky became Marsh CEO in response to Spitzer’s “investigation” into AIG and Marsh).

Who is Michael Cherkasky? Great question. He brought Eliot Spitzer into the NY City District Attorney’s Office way back when, and is a contributor to Spitzer’s campaign to become New York Governor....

We’re ALL affected by 9-11 in ways that most people never take time to fathom… but there are SOLUTIONS, and yes, even a panacea.

It’s called Communication...

The 8th Estate is the state of being where one thinks for themselves, and enjoys the state of infinite possibility and hope…

Looking forward,

Richard Andrew Grove

www.8thestate.com

For more, GO TO > > > Axis of Evil

~ ~ ~

Richard Andrew Grove has extensively documented massive fraud and conspiracy which compromises the very foundation of American's financial institutions. He names names and spotlights 2.3 trillion of taxpayers money, a trillion in gold bullion and hundreds of billions in pre-911 stock market trades which records were conveniently covered-up in the collapse of the WTC. This is the whistleblower that will collapse the 911 fraud! - and the largest single theft and continuous theft in known history. FOLLOW THE MONEY!

~ ~ ~

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD of his book
911 Insider

www.lulu.com/content/323988

March 30, 2006

Marsh Boosts CEO Pay to
$10.7M in 2005

Forbes, Associated Press

Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. disclosed Thursday that it had more than doubled the salary of its chief executive, Michael G. Cherkasky, who took over amid a scandal in 2004.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Marsh & McLennan said that Cherkasky received $10.7 million in total pay in 2005, up from about $4 million in 2004. The package included a $1 million salary, a $2.5 million bonus and some $7 million in restricted stock awards and stock options.

Cherkasky became CEO in October 2004 after the company ousted Jeffrey W. Greenberg from the posts of chairman and chief executive amid a government probe into bid rigging and price fixing. The investigation has since been settled.

Before becoming CEO, Cherkasky had been the head of Marsh Inc., the company's risk and insurance services unit.

The report to the SEC said Charles E. Haldeman, chief executive of Marsh's Putnam Investments unit, received $14.5 million in total pay last year. His salary was $900,000, and his bonus was $12.6 million, the report showed.

Brian Storms, chairman and chief executive of Marsh Inc., received $7.1 million in compensation in 2005, including a $1 million salary and $3 million bonus, the report to the SEC said....

03/14/2006

GALLAGHER TAKES ACTION AGAINST NATION’S LARGEST BROKER FOR BID RIGGING AND PAY-TO-PLAY SCHEMES

Press Release

CONTACT: Tami Torres or Bob Lotane
(850) 413-2842

TALLAHASSEE — Tom Gallagher, Florida's chief financial officer, today filed suit against the nation's largest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan, and its affiliates for bid rigging and illegally steering their clients to certain insurers in exchange for improper commissions. Today's action is based on a joint investigation by the Department of Financial Services, Office of Insurance Regulation and the Attorney General's Office.

"Marsh and its affiliates were more interested in getting kickbacks than getting the best deals for their clients," said Gallagher, who initiated an investigation into broker practices in November 2004. "My goal is to ensure that Floridians are refunded for the millions of dollars in fees or commissions they were improperly charged."

The New York-based company is the nation's largest broker of commercial and liability coverage used to insure electric utilities, government buildings, low-income housing, municipal utilities and private businesses. Brokers advise their clients on insurance needs and options, and represent their clients in negotiating the price and terms of coverage with insurance companies. According to Gallagher, Marsh and its affiliates brokered approximately 15,000 insurance contracts in Florida between 1998 and 2004 for public entities and private businesses in Florida.

Gallagher said the Department's complaint charges Marsh and three of its affiliated companies with numerous violations of Florida's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act. Specifically, the complaint accuses Marsh of engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity, including soliciting hidden payments in the form of contingency commissions, and steering hundreds of millions of dollars in business to insurance carriers willing to "pay-to-play."

Gallagher said that Florida's RICO Act provides for restitution of up to three times the amount lost due to the unlawful conduct, as well as injunctive relief, and revocation of authority to conduct business in the state.

The complaint also outlines how Marsh collected undisclosed commissions in its insurance deals on behalf of its clients, even though some of those contracts expressly prohibited such payments. Legal pleadings provided the following examples of misconduct:

• Marsh claimed to accept only a fixed fee starting at $80,000 a year from the Jacksonville Electric Authority to help secure its property and employee health insurance, but did not disclose to the JEA that it had accepted at least another $188,000 from the insurers to whom it gave the JEA's business.

• Marsh signed a contract with Miami-Dade County agreeing to be paid a flat fee of $100,000 a year to place property insurance for the county's water and sewer department. However, Marsh received an additional $140,000 from the insurers who got the business – and failed to disclose the additional income to Miami-Dade County.

• Marsh "targeted" a 25-percent premium increase in 2003 for its Miami-based client Burger King, and took steps to make sure that all competing insurers submitted bids with a uniform premium increase.

• Marsh "rigged" a purportedly competitive bid for Plantation-based DHL's excess auto insurance coverage, in favor of the insurer already providing coverage to DHL, by soliciting a sham "protective quote" from a different insurer that was $200,000 higher than the incumbent insurer's bid. The "protective quote" was designed to create the appearance of competitive bidding, although Marsh had already arranged to award the business to DHL's previous insurer. The incumbent insurer paid Marsh a commission in return for keeping DHL's business. A key Marsh employee involved in this illegal transaction has pled guilty to restraint-of-trade charges in New York.

Gallagher said his department, along with the Office of Insurance Regulation and the Attorney General's Office, is also investigating allegations of bid-rigging, kickbacks and improper fees between other insurance brokers and insurance companies in Florida.

"If brokers and insurance companies are manipulating the law for personal gain and driving up insurance costs for consumers, then we need to seek restitution where appropriate and take swift action to prevent further abuses," Gallagher said.

The complaint can be read at:

http://www.fldfs.com/PressOffice/pdfs/MarshComplaint.pdf.

< < < FLASHBACK < < <

October 25, 2001

Statement of John T. Sinnott, Chairman and CEO, Marsh, Inc. Before the House Financial Services Committee "Protecting Policyholders from Terrorism: Private Sector Solutions"

—

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am John T. Sinnott, Chairman and CEO of Marsh, Inc, headquartered in New York City.

Marsh is the world's largest risk management and insurance brokerage firm. We have 35,000 employees and serve clients in over 100 countries around the world. We also serve virtually all of the major insurance firms with reinsurance broking and related services through our Guy Carpenter unit. My testimony is on behalf of my firm as well as the member firms of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers.

I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me this opportunity to testify today on the topic of private sector solutions to the burgeoning terror insurance availability crisis in the wake of the September 11 attacks....

The events of that day were singularly devastating on one industry - the financial services industry - not only in business terms, but also in human terms.

The World Trade Center housed several companies from the banking, securities and insurance industries that must now deal not only with the new business challenges facing them as a result of the attacks but also with the loss of colleagues and employees.

Within the insurance industry, the brokerage community was hit particularly hard. Marsh maintained offices in both of the World Trade Center towers and the space that we occupied in the north tower comprised the floors directly struck by the first aircraft. No one in those offices at the time escaped.

In fact, of the 1900 members of the Marsh & McLennan Companies working in both towers (or who were visiting that day) 294 were lost. Another colleague was a passenger aboard one of the aircraft....

The events of September 11 have changed the landscape of commercial insurance in a way that I have not seen in my 36 years in the business. To be sure, there have been trying times in the past - the liability crisis in the mid-1980s, the property catastrophe coverage problems in the early 1990s following Hurricane Andrew, to name a couple....

In response to the mid-1980s liability crisis, Marsh played a leading role in the creation of the insurance and reinsurance companies ACE Limited in 1985 and XL Capital in 1986.

These companies were formed to provide excess liability and directors' and officers' liability coverages at a time when the market could not provide the necessary capacity. These companies were very successful in providing much-needed market capacity and eventually were spun off from Marsh. They exist as major insurers today.

Similarly, Marsh played a role in the creation of Mid Ocean Limited during the property catastrophe reinsurance crisis following Hurricane Andrew in 1992. This company has also done very well in meeting the needs voiced by our clients.

It was in this same spirit of responding to customer needs that MMC Capital, our sister company, recently announced the formation of AXIS Specialty Limited, a new insurance and reinsurance company formed to provide capacity needed in the wake of the September 11 attacks. AXIS has an initial capitalization in excess of $1 billion, and will begin underwriting later on this quarter....

But I must tell you in all candor that what your committee heard has been hearing over the past three weeks is true - there is an immediate crisis that demands your attention. In the current unique, and hopefully short-term, environment of uncertainty, the private sector alone will not be able to provide the insurance capacity America's businesses need to conduct their operations.

Government involvement is needed until the environment becomes secure and returns to a state of more normalcy....

May I close by saying that my firm has been severely affected by the events of September 11.

The first aircraft directly struck our offices in the World Trade Center and we lost 295 members of our corporate family. That was the real tragedy and is still with us in our offices and hallways. We also incurred huge losses of property and equipment.

So I speak here today from painful personal experience - and perhaps with a deeper understanding of what our clients face as they look to an uncertain future. Mr. Chairman, let me restate that we are on the brink of an availability/affordability crisis insurance caused by the terrorist events....

I commend you for holding this hearing, for your efforts to create a solution that restores and strengthens the private marketplace, and I urge you to work with your colleagues in Congress and the Administration and within our industry to find workable answers....

See also: John Sinnott

For later news on the 9-11 tragedy and coverup, GO TO > > > Axis of Evil; The Eagle Hooded

March 8, 2006

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

WAL-MART STORES, INC., a Delaware corporation, and WACHOVIA BANK OF GEORGIA, N.A., in its capacity as Trustee of the WAL-MARD STORES, INC. CORPORATION GRANTOR TRUST,

Plaintiffs Below,
Appellants,

AIG LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, a Delaware corporation; HARTFORD LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, a Connecticut corporation; WESTPORT MANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC., a Delaware corporation; INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE MARKETING GROUP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; NATIONAL BENEFITS GROUPS, INC., dba MARSH FINANCIAL SERVICES, a Minnesota corporation; SEABURY & SMITH, INC., a Delaware corporation; MARSH, INC., a Delaware corporation; and MARSH & McLENNAN NATIONAL MARKETING CORPORATION, now known as J&H MARSH & McLENNAN PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES, INC., a Delaware corporation,

Defendants Below,
Appellees.

No. 172, 2005

Court Below; Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County C.A. No 19875

Submitted: March 8, 2006
Decided: June 6, 2006

See: Wal-Mart vs. AIG, Marsh & McLennan, et al

~ ~ ~

Also see: A Connecticut Yankee in King Kamehameha’s Court; The Great Nest Egg Robberies; The Vultures in WCI Communities

January 22, 2005

Marsh, ACE’s Unit Face Lawsuit
Over Commissions

Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal sued insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Inc. and a unit of Bermuda-based insurance firm ACE Ltd. on Friday over allegedly illegal commissions in connection with an $80-million state contract.

It was the latest in a series of actions that Blumenthal has taken since New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer filed suit in October against Marsh & McLennan for alleged bid rigging, price fixing and demanding incentive fees from insurance companies in exchange for sending property and casualty business their way.

Blumenthal’s civil lawsuit accuses Marsh & McLennan of illegally steering an $80-million state contract to ACE Financial Solutions Inc. It alleges that ACE paid Marsh a $50,000 commission for a contract that managed workers’ compensation cases....

Marsh & McLennan shares fell 50 cents to $31.01 on the New York Stock Exchange. ACE shares dropped 85 cents to $42.83, also on the NYSE.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/22/business/fi-wrap22

December 6, 2004

Spitzer probes American Fin'l, Hartford

NY's top cop investigating legal malpractice insurance

By Alistair Barr, CBS MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- American Financial Group and Hartford Financial said Monday that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is probing how the companies write legal malpractice insurance.

Great American Insurance, the property and casualty unit of American Financial (AFG), is the target of Spitzer’s latest line of inquiry, the company said in a statement.

The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG) disclosed in a statement after the bell Monday that it is also being investigated.

Arch Capital Group (ACGL), a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance firm, said Friday that it got a similar request from Spitzer...

Spitzer sued Marsh & McLennan (MMC), the world’s largest broker on Oct. 14 for allegedly rigging bids and accepting disputed commissions in return for steering business to favored insurers.

While much of the complaint focused on Marsh’s excess casualty division, Spitzer’s inquires have since broadened to include employment benefits, “finite” insurance and now legal malpractice insurance.

Great American said it began an internal investigation after getting inquiries from state insurance regulators following Spitzer’s suit against Marsh. That investigation is ongoing, the company added....

Legal associations sometimes endorse insurers, helping them to sell policies to their members. In return they get a fee for the endorsement, said Andy Barile, an insurance consultant with 40 years of experience in the industry.

Spitzer may be investigating whether these fees raised the cost of insurance for lawyers and if the payments were properly disclosed, Barile said....

September 10, 2004

9/11 Impact on Marsh & McLennan Cos.
Nothing Short of Devastation

By Dave Thomas, Insurance Journal

Marsh & McLennan Companies Chairman and CEO Jeff Greenberg remembers all too well those images of Sept. 11, 2001.

Greenberg knew something had gone terribly wrong in New York City that Tuesday morning. He recently chatted in an e-mail interview with Insurance Journal about that day, how Marsh families were impacted, and how the company has rebounded despite the terrible losses, as the third anniversary of the attacks approached.

Insurance Journal: Where were you on 9/11 and what were your first reactions when you heard the news?

Jeff Greenberg: On 9/11 I was at MMC's midtown headquarters, which has an unobstructed view of lower Manhattan. I saw the smoke rising from One World Trade Center and the fireball erupt from the second tower. My initial reactions were shock, horror, and what the meaning of the attacks would be for MMC. Were people getting out of the buildings? Had we lost people? Which clients were affected? These questions and many others were on my mind at a time when our communications were down and news from the outside world was confused and contradictory.

IJ: How many Marsh employees were lost and was everyone accounted for?

Greenberg: Two hundred ninety-five MMC colleagues were lost in the attacks of Sept. 11. On that day, 1,908 MMC colleagues worked in or were visiting our offices in the twin towers of the World Trade Center. We had one employee who was a passenger on one of the hijacked planes....

IJ: As great as the human loss was for Marsh, what kind of financial impact did 9/11 have on the company?

Greenberg: The sudden death of 295 friends and co-workers was the worst loss in our 133-year history. But because we are a very large company, we had 58,000 people around the world in 2001, the purely business impact of Sept. 11 was largely confined to our offices in downtown Manhattan and did not have a large effect on our global operations. As we reported in our 2001 annual report, MMC recorded a pre-tax charge of $126 million for costs related directly to Sept. 11, which were not covered by MMC's insurance program.

IJ: How has Marsh rebuilt since 9/11 and what has the company done for survivors of those who were killed?

Greenberg: Rebuilding the company was really not our challenge. Although disaster recovery plans and our dedicated technology staff helped us restore data, critical applications, and telecommunications, we did make operational changes, e.g., not placing critical facilities on the same power grid. We have also made substantial investments in security programs to protect our colleagues....

IJ: Overall, how do you think the insurance industry came out of 9/11, and, God forbid, could it survive another event of such proportions?

Greenberg: The insurance industry came through 9/11 very well. The period of disruption was relatively short, and capacity returned to most markets fairly quickly. In order to analyze the impact of 9/11, you must distinguish between changes in the last three years that were directly related to 9/11 versus the other factors (prolonged soft market, tough loss environment leading up to 9/11, asbestos and environmental issues, corporate governance scandals, poor investment climate, etc.). In that context, 9/11 might be seen as the capstone to what was already a market in trouble and that in many lines was already in transition....

IJ: Where do you see Marsh in the coming years as far as its position in the industry?

Greenberg: In the coming years, we expect MMC to strengthen its leadership position in risk services. The mission of that business is to help clients reduce the total cost of risk to their enterprises. Helping clients to affect risk transfer remains fundamental to managing risk, and it underlies much of Marsh's work for clients. But our strategy has evolved to encompass a much broader set of services around risk management. We see attractive growth opportunities in all client segments and geographies.

http://www.claimsguides.com/news/national/2004/09/10/45707.htm

November 8, 2004

Pensions seek consultant disclosure

By Yamil Berard, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Jack Silver was a teacher at an inner-city Chicago school hobnobbing with the managers of multibillion-dollar funds.

In fact, investment managers were paying $50,000 to "meet people like me," said Silver. "Now, that's a hell of a lot of money."

Why Silver? Because he was on the pension board for teachers in Chicago. Its consultant put on the seminars, raking in the admission fee from managers who might be seeking a piece of the fund's $10 billion investment pie.

That made Silver wonder: Did attending the seminars help managers win the consultant's recommendation? And was the consultant doing other business with managers It hyped to the pension board?

Those are questions that some public pension officials have begun asking since a handful of pension funds around the country have made discoveries that left them queasy.

They found that the consultant who guided their every move -- telling them how to divvy up investment dollars which investment managers to hire and fire, and whether the fund was getting socked with excessive trading charges'-- was making money from both sides of the table.

Now there's a growing clamor for public pension plans to demand that consultants put their cards on the table and disclose financial incentives. Some Texas plans have taken steps to require disclosure, the Star-Telegram found in a survey of more than a dozen plans.

But others still have not, despite what some critics see as the potential for conflicts of interest. Their concerns:

• Some consultants recommend investment managers that are a branch of their own company. In California, a Santa Clara Valley pension board fired investment manager Putnam in February after the indictment of two people for securities fraud. Putnam and the plan's consultant, Mercer Investment Consulting, are both part of Marsh & McLennan Cos. The New York attorney general's office is examining whether Marsh rigged insurance bids, and whether Mercer steered clients to Marsh insurance products....

Continued at... “The Great Nest Egg Robberies”

March 31, 2005

Marsh’s Former Chief Executive
Forfeited $25.1 Million

Forbes

Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world’s largest insurance brokerage, said former Chief Executive Jeffrey Greenberg forfeited $25.1 million in restricted stock after being fired amid an investigation into bid rigging.

A portion of the stock could be reinstated, as the “characterization” of Greenberg’s October termination hasn’t been determined, New York-based Marsh said today to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Greenberg, 53, also forfeited options on 220,000 shares of stock.

Marsh paid Greenberg a $1 million salary last year and other compensation totaling $91,519. He lost his job after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accused the company of soliciting phony insurance bids and steering clients to insurers that paid hidden fees.

Michael Cherkasky, who replaced Greenberg as CEO, received $3 million in restricted stock, a $373,965 salary and a $600,000 bonus last year. Cherkasky, 55, joined Marsh in July when it acquired Kroll Inc., a risk consulting company....

Marsh agreed in January to pay $850 million to settle Spitzer’s charges. The company didn’t admit or deny any wrongdoing.

Shares of Marsh fell 28 cents to $30.42 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading today. The shares have fallen 34 percent since Spitzer sued the company on Oct. 14.

September 12, 2003

New York City: Relatives of 9/11 victims
march in opposition to US war policies

By a World Socialist Web Site reporting team

Several dozen family members of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led about 2,000 supporters Wednesday evening in a candlelight procession down lower Broadway from Union Square to the site where the World Trade Center once stood. There they formed a vast ring around the site that they described as a “Circle of Hope,” and held an hour-long silent vigil.

The march and vigil were organized by the group September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows as an alternative to Thursday’s official commemorations, which were dominated by Republican politicians.

President Bush stayed away from the Thursday ceremony, according to some reports out of White House concerns that his presence could provoke protests. While Vice President Richard Cheney was tapped as a stand-in, he also withdrew from the main event at Ground Zero, ostensibly because the massive security operation that is conducted wherever he goes would have interfered with family members filing down into the World Trade Center site.

Wednesday’s vigil was called both to remember those who died in the attacks and to oppose US military action. While political banners and signs were discouraged, it was clear that the participants came because they opposed US war policies in general, and the occupation of Iraq in particular.

The demonstration—organized by those who lost husbands or wives, sons or daughters, brothers or sisters in the September 11 attacks—represented a repudiation of the lies of the Bush administration that invading first Afghanistan and then Iraq was justified by the September 11 attacks.

The dozens of family members who marched on Wednesday represent the tip of the iceberg in relation to the anger that has been building up among thousands of relatives who see all too clearly that their grief is being manipulated for political and financial gain, while the Bush administration systematically stonewalls any attempt to uncover information about the attacks and who was responsible for allowing them to take place....

The World Socialist Web Site spoke with some of the family members and others who marched to the World Trade Center Wednesday.

John Leinung, 49, works as a trainer for the Metro North commuter railroad. He lost his step-son in the World Trade Center attacks. Paul Battaglia, only 22 at the time, was a safety consultant for Marsh & McLennan, working on the 100th floor of the North Tower when it was hit.

John told the WSWS: “I am concerned that the administration has rolled over Afghanistan and then abandoned it. I never saw the case for war against Iraq either. They never demonstrated any connection between the Iraqi government and Al Qaeda.”

Asked about the investigations into the events of 9/11, John said, “I’m suspicious because the government feels it necessary to keep so much secret. The Saudis have been playing both ends against the middle—militant extremists and the oil companies. The large corporate interests and oil companies don’t want us to see the connections they have in Saudi Arabia. They are making a lot of money with these people.”...

Jack Hallock, age 44, lost his cousin Ryan Kohart, then age 26, who worked for bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald. Asked how things have changed in the two years since the World Trade Center attacks, he said: “It’s a disaster. Foreign policy is a disaster. The domestic platform is a disaster. The government is using 9/11 to perpetuate war abroad and economic war at home.

“There’s no evidence connecting Iraq to 9/11. There’s about as much evidence of that as there is that Iraq was developing nuclear arms, or that they had thousands of tons of weapons of mass destruction. Where do you hide thousands of tons?

“The investigation into the Saudi Arabian connection has been thwarted by the Bush administration. Considering that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, it’s a little strange.”...

www.ccmep.org

For more, GO TO > > > Axis of Evil

September 16, 2005

Reilly threatens to hit
Marsh & McLennan with suit

17 state firms may have been bid-rig victims, AG says

By Andrew Caffrey, Boston Globe

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said Marsh & McLennan Cos. may have cheated more than a dozen Bay State business customers in a bid-rigging scam and is threatening to sue the embattled insurance brokerage.

The list of 17 local Marsh & McLennan clients who may have been wronged includes some of Massachusetts' largest companies and institutions, including the University of Massachusetts, the New England Medical Center, State Street Corp. and Gillette Co.

In a Sept. 8 letter to company chief executive Michael G. Cherkasky, the attorney general's office said it had ''reason to believe" that Marsh & McLennan ''engaged in unfair and deceptive practices" because it may not have provided ''customers with the services it promised and deceived them about the role of compensation payments and compensation arrangements it had with insurers."

A spokesman for Marsh & McLennan, James Fingeroth, said ''the company is continuing to have discussions and is cooperating with the Massachusetts attorney general."

Also yesterday, eight former executives of the company's Marsh Inc. brokerage unit were indicted in New York state court on 37 felony counts for their roles in a scheme to allegedly fix prices and steer contracts of business customers to those insurers who paid the company secret commissions.

These are the latest charges in the case brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who last October rocked the insurance world when he disclosed the secret bid-rigging scheme and sued Marsh & McLennan. Spitzer has said the secret arrangements defrauded Marsh customers of millions of dollars and undermined competition throughout the industry.

The disclosures resulted in Marsh & McLennan losing around 40 percent of its stock market value, cost its former chief executive, Jeffrey Greenberg, his job and led to a major house cleaning throughout the corporation.

Marsh & McLennan, based in New York, is also the parent company of Boston's Putnam Investments.

Under Cherkasky, Marsh & McLennan in January agreed to a settlement with Spitzer in which it agreed to pay up to $850 million to US-based customers --including those in Massachusetts--who had placed policies through Marsh between 2001 and 2004, for which the insurance broker received these secret commissions.

Those eligible customers would receive a pro-rated portion of the $850 million fund based on the size of their policy and the commission that Marsh received from it.

In agreeing to receive restitution from the Spitzer settlement, Marsh customers would also agree to waive other legal actions against the company. Customers have until Tuesday to sign onto the settlement. The company also apologized for its behavior and said it would no longer receive such commissions from insurance companies.

In the Massachusetts situation, Reilly's office accused Marsh & McLennan of some of the same transgressions that it had settled with Spitzer.

''Marsh also steered clients to certain insurers, rigged bids, solicited false quotes from insurers, discouraged or withheld quotes, and encouraged insurers to increase the prices of their bids," the Massachusetts prosecutor wrote....

The eight former Marsh executives indicted yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding customers, grand larceny and restraint of trade. Spitzer said the eight colluded with executives of at least four major insurance providers, including American International Group, ''to rig the market for excess casualty insurance."

Spitzer had previously obtained guilty pleas from 17 other insurance executives, including two from AIG.

Marsh and its parent company do not face any criminal sanctions in the case, and in its civil settlement with Spitzer earlier this year the company did not admit or deny the attorney general's allegations.

Commenting in a statement on the new charges against the company's former employee, Cherkasky, the Marsh & McLennan chief executive, yesterday said, ''This indictment is about the past. MMC today is focused on the future and is committed to excellence and the highest standards of professionalism and service."

Andrew Caffrey can be reached at caffrey@globe.com

September 15, 2005

Spitzer: Eight Ex-insurance
Executives Indicted

Charges for bid-rigging that cost
corporate customers millions of dollars

MSNBD - The Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Thursday announced that a grand jury has indicted eight former insurance executives on felonies involving bid rigging that cost corporate customers millions of dollars.

The former executives - including seven from Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. the nation’s largest insurance broker - are accused of colluding with executives at major insurance companies to arrange noncompetitive bids. These bids then were given to Marsh & McLennan clients “under false pretenses,” according to Spitzer’s statement....

Former Marsh & McLennan employees indicted on charges of first-degree scheming to defraud, restraint of trade and competition, and grand larceny - all felonies - were: William Gilman, was executive marketing director; Joseph Peiser, head of global broking excess casualty and managing director; Edward J. McNenney, global placement director and managing director, and Thomas T. Green Jr., a senior vice president.

Greg J. Doherty, former local broking coordinator and team leader and senior vice president of the ACE USA insurance company, a division of Bermuda-based ACE Ltd, was indicted on the same charges, Spitzer’s office said.

Indicted on charges of scheming to defraud, restraint of trade and grand larceny were three former Marsh & McLennan executives: Kathleen M. Drake, who was local broking coordinator team leader and managing director; William L. McBurnie, coverage and carrier specialist and senior vice president, and Edward J. Keane Jr., assistant vice president.

If convicted, Gilman, Peiser, McNenney, Green and Doherty face a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison. The other defendants face a maxiimum of 15 years in prison....

Spitzer has alleged that bid-rigging by insurance companies - along with special commissions aimed at steering customers to insurers in exchange for bonuses - has been widespread in the industry. That can keep customers from receiving the best deal.

In January, Marsh & McLennan agreed to pay $850 million in restitution to end Spitzer’s investigation into bid rigging and price fixing. The settlement became a model for other insurance company settlements.

Marsh & McLennan as a corporation faces no criminal sanctions, Spitzer said.

The indictments handed down Thursday allege bid rigging from November 1998 to September 2004.

Spitzer said the defendants colluded with executives at American International Group, Zurich American Insurance Company, ACE USA, Liberty International Insurance Co. and other unnamed companies.

Agreements have not been reached with ACE, AIG, Zurich or Liberty, Spitzer said.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9354301/

(For more on alleged “rigged bids” by a Marsh broker in Hawaii, Rocco Sansone, GO TO > > > Claims By Harmon)

ATTENTION ! ! ! . . . INVESTORS, LAWMAKERS, FINANCIAL REGULATORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, PENSION PLAN ADMINISTRATORS, TAXPAYERS AND ANYONE WHO DOES BUSINESS WITH BANKS, CREDIT UNIONS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, STOCK BROKERS, MAJOR CORPORATIONS, ETC....

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

~ o ~

September 13, 2005

Marsh & McLennan Co.
launches $1.3 billion debt

Yahoo! News

Marsh & McLennan Cos. on Tuesday launched a $1.3 billion two-part note sale, with pricing expected later on Tuesday, said market sources....

The global coordinators on the sale are Citigroup Global Markets and Goldman Sachs.

Marsh & McLennan is rated “Baa2" by Moody’s Investors Service and “BBB” by Standard & Poor’s.

August 4, 2005

3 More Execs Plead Guilty in Ongoing
Spitzer Insurance Brokerage Probe

Insurance Journal

Former employees of Marsh & McLennan, Inc. and Zurich Financial Services have pleaded guilty to bid rigging in insurance charges brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

According to the Washington Post, Regina Hatten and Nicole Michele, both formerly of Marsh, pleaded guilty in state court to single felony counts of scheming to defraud. Jim Spiegel, who had worked at Zurich, pleaded guilty to a one felony count of restraining competition and trade.

Since Spitzer began his probe into the compensation and placement practices of large insurance brokerage houses, 14 executives have admitted wrongdoing.

www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2005/08/04/57996.htm

May 24, 2005

Brokerage’s Colorado Restitution Set

By Christine Tatum, Denver Post

More than 100 Colorado companies will collect a total of $12.7 million as part of a settlement with Marsh & McLennan, the worlds’ largest insurance brokerage.

“Even sophisticated consumers of insurance products can become victims of unethical and unlawful conduct,” Colorado Insurance Commissioner David Rivera said in a statement released Monday....

The settlement is one more reminder of the scandal that has plagued the insurance industry in recent months. Some of the biggest names in the business are accused of accepting or giving kickbacks to win business.

Marsh & McLennan agreed this year to pay $850 million in restitution to policyholders nationwide after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accused the firm’s insurance brokers of steering clients to certain insurers in exchange for kickbacks commonly known as “contingent commissions.”...

One Colorado company will collect more than $2.4 million.

Qwest spokesman Bob Toeve confirmed Monday that the Denver-based local-phone-service provider is expecting to receive settlement money....

May 23, 2005

Marsh Settlement Offers $14M to Washington Clients

Puget Sound Business Journal

More than 15,000 businesses, associations, individuals and organizations could share nearly $14 million in restitution as part of an $850 million national settlement of a suit against insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc....

The parties reached a settlement in January, said Mike Kreidler, Washington’s insurance commissioner.

Kreidler said the company sent letters with individual settlement offers last week to more than 15,000 of its clients in Washington....

Some of the claims are very small – below $20 – but some, especially for the region’s larger companies are substantial.

The agency initially posted the full list of claims on its Web site, but state officials later removed the list after Marsh claimed the information is confidential....

The highest single offers are for about $952,000 for Washington Mutual Inc., and for about $950,000 for New Cingular Wireless Inc., the former AT&T Wireless Services Inc. operation in Redmond that was purchased last year by Cingular.

Other large settlements are about $661,000 for Costco Wholesale Corp.; $650,000 for Providence Medical; and about $487,000 for Immunex, the biotech firm purchased a few years ago by Amgen.

Kreidler said clients who accept the settlement must sign a release forfeiting the right to pursue any claims against Marsh related to the fraud and anti-competitive practices. Clients who elect not the accept the settlement can pursue legal remedies, he said....

May 19, 2005

Marsh & McLennan:
Shareholders Elect CEO Cherkasky As Director

By Shaheen Pasha, Dow Jones Newswires

NEW YORK - Marsh & McLennan Cos. will right past wrongs but will stop apologizing for the actions of some of its former employees, the company’s top executive said Thursday.

Speaking at the company’s annual investor meeting in New York City, Michael Cherkasky, president and chief executive, who was addressing his first annual meeting with shareholders, said he was optimistic that the company will be successful despite its challenges, and will continue to be a market leader.

“I’m not going to apologize anymore... we’ve apologized enough,” he said.

He added that while actions at its Marsh unit raised trust issues among clients, the company was committed to making sure that people won’t fail in their responsibilities....

Marsh & McLennan shareholders elected Cherkasky to the company’s board of directors and ratified Deloitte & Touche as the company’s independent auditors.

The company’s chairman, Robert Erburu, said the majority of shareholders approved Cherkasky, Stephen Hardis, Lord Lang, Morton Schapiro and Adele Simmons - all current directors of the board - for a three-year term expiring in 2008....

May 15, 2005

SEC Targets Pensions

By Neil Weinberg, Forbes

Now the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is taking on the pension business.

The expected action involves companies that advise public and private pension funds how to allocate trillions of dollars in investments and which money managers they recommend. This has led to accusations that “pay-to-play” is rampant among consultants. Critics charge they favor money managers who buy services from them.

The consultants have denied such bias.

The SEC may have felt compelled to act in part because many pension fund managers appear oblivious to the conflicts inherent in the advice they are receiving. Forbes last year cited an official in charge of investments for the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority who had no idea his consultant, Mercer Investment Consulting, a unit of Marsh & McLennan (nyse: MMC), was also receiving payments from many of the managers it recommended....

Although the SEC is not expected to announce specific enforcement proceedings against pension consultants on Monday, it is likely that such action will become public in coming months, a person familiar with the situation said.

The SEC’s report is expected to recommend that pension funds use a checklist of questions when evaluating consultants to ensure that the funds understand how their advisers are compensated and the potential conflicts of interest inherent in their businesses, these people said.

“It’s great that the SEC is finally alerting pensions to the dangers involved in hiring these consultants,” said Edward Siedle, president of Benchmark Financial Services, an Ocean Ridge, Fla., firm that investigates wrongdoing among money managers.

“This goes to the heart of a system involving corrupt gatekeepers that is costing many pension funds millions or billions of dollars.”

Among the firms the SEC reportedly requested to submit information in 2003 are Mercer, Callan Associates, Segal Investment Solutions, Watson Wyatt and Wilshire Associates....

www.forbes.com/2005/05/15/cz_nw_0515pension.html

May 5, 2005

FBI Targets Insurance Industry in
Widening Fraud Probe

Insurance Journal

The insurance industry, already under scrutiny by state and federal authorities for various practices, now faces another questioner.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe of the insurance industry that targets some of the accounting mistakes found at American International Group to see how widespread the problems might be.

The FBI review is not confined to insurer accounting but is also looking into agents and brokers who may be diverting premiums for their own use and into the operations of workers’ compensation plans sold by professional employer organizations (PEO).

The FBI said its agents are talking to industry executives and regulators as well as looking for patterns in existing complaints and civil records.

“We do not want to be caught napping on this,” Chris Swecker, an assistant director at the FBI who oversees the financial crimes unit, told The New York Times. “We are taking a very, very hard look at this to see if it represents a pervasive problem.”

The FBI said it would conduct traditional investigations as well as “utilize sophisticated techniques, to include covert undercover investigations, to apprehend the fraudsters.”...

“Insurance fraud continues to maintain a top investigative priority due in large part to the insurance industry’s significant status as one of the largest U.S. industries (more than doubling the Gross Domestic Product contributions of the securities industry),” said the report, which points out that the insurance industry consists of more than 7,000 companies with over $1 trillion in premiums each year.

Among the FBI’s concerns is that the “insurance industry is in the midst of technological and regulatory changes which will result in foreign insurance entities playing a larger role.” The report maintains that regulation of the industry is becoming more difficult as more foreign players enter the market.

The FBI said it is working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to identify “the top echelon fraudsters defrauding the insurance industry and most prevalent schemes within the insurance industry.”...

The Times said that the FBI official suggested this could be “the next big one,” apparently referring to the 1980's savings and loan crisis and the more recent headlining corporate fraud cases at Enron and other big firms.”...

The FBI has also recently joined the International Association of Insurance Fraud Agencies, an international non-profit organization which addresses insurance and insurance-related financial crimes on a global basis.

www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2005/05/05/54728.htm

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(A Catbird Note: If any of you insurance industry insiders would like to assist the FBI in their investigations (ha), you can GO TO > www.fbi.gov)

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For more, GO TO > > > More Claims By Harmon: The FBI

April 20, 2005

Insurance Cos. Eyed By Global Watchdogs

Forbes

The United States promoted the formation of the Financial Action Task Force during the 1989 G-7 Summit, motivated by the global range of the money-laundering problem and the competitive disadvantage its own anti-money-laundering regime imposed on its financial sector.

The FATF has helped develop a coordinated international response to money-laundering, which is defined as taking illicit proceeds and moving them into the legitimate economy. The FATF initially put forth 40 recommendations intended to help national governments implement effective anti-money-laundering regimes; these were first revised in 1996 and then further updated in 2003....

The FATF promotes policies at the national and international levels to combat money-laundering and terrorist-financing....

In October 2001 the FATF expanded its remit beyond its original mandate of traditional money-laundering to cover terrorist finance, which has been describes as “reverse money-laundering,” in that it takes legitimate sources of funds and turns them toward illicit ends....

The FATF currently consists of 33 full member, including 31 countries and territories, and two regional organisations. Members are mainly drawn from advanced countries but also include the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Dahrain, Kuwait, Omar, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates....

The FATF has become increasingly concerned that some money-laundering activities are migrating from banks to other parts of the formal financial sector. Therefore, the FATF is currently working on a report, scheduled to appear in June, which analyzes the role of the insurance sector in money-laundering. This exercise could lead to additional recommendations concerning the “best practices” to discourage money-laundering within this sector.

However, any additional scrutiny of problematic practices in the insurance sector comes at a difficult time as, in the United States, insurance firms such as Marsh & McLennan (nyse: MMC), Ace (nyse: ACE), AIG (nyse: AIG) and Berkshire Hathaway’s (nyse: BRKA) General RE unit are facing significant scrutiny by various state and federal regulators for various transgressions, including fraud, bid-rigging and improper transactions....

The FATF remains the principal international policy-making body dedicated to coordinating efforts to counter money-laundering and shut down terrorist finance. ... Later this year, the FATF will probable extend its sectoral reach by making new recommendations covering the insurance sector....

www.forbes.com/2005/04/20/cz_0420oxan_financeaction.html

April 12, 2005

Marsh cuts jobs as it overhauls price plan

By Patrick Hosking, Times Online

BRITAIN’S biggest insurance broker, Marsh, is to cut 750 UK staff and revolutionise its pricing structure.

The job cuts will be across the board among Marsh’s 6,000 British employees, who are based in 24 different offices.

Marsh, part of Marsh & McLennan, the US group, also unveiled plans to ensure that the benefits of the reforms, induced by Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney-general, should be passed on to clients....

Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Marsh’s chief executive for Europe, said that every client would know what Marsh was earning on their account as part of its global clean-up....

Marsh & McLennan was forced into an $850 million (£449 million) settlement with Mr. Spitzer in January after allegations of bid-rigging, client fraud and accepting kickbacks.

Although an investigation by Freshfields, the law firm, into Marsh’s UK arm found no evidence of malpractice, the group decided last October to give up taking contingent commissions, the discredited fees at the heart of the old pricing system....

SETTLING WITH SPITZER

• Oct 14, 2004: Eliot Spitzer, New York attorney-general, accuses Marsh & McLennan of price fixing and collusion.

• Oct 25: Jeffrey Greenberg, Marsh & McLennan chief executive and chairman, resigns under pressure from Spitzer. Replaced by Michael Cherkasky.

• Oct 27: Marsh’s UK office appoints Freshfields to carry out internal investigation.

• Nov 8: two Marsh & McLennan executives responsible for divisions where price-fixing took place asked to step down.

• Nov 9: Marsh & McLennan sets aside $232m for settlement with Spitzer.

• Nov 18: Five members of Marsh & McLennan board step down.

• Dec 3: Freshfields clears Marsh UK of wrongdoing.

• Jan 6, 2005: Spitzer files complaint against Marsh & McLennan.

• Jan 31: Marsh & McLennan agrees $850m compensation fund with Spitzer. He drops charges.

March 17, 2005

Marsh & McLennan Names New Chairman

Forbes

Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world’s largest insurance brokerage, on Thursday named lead director Robert F. Erburu as its non-executive chairman.

Erburu, a former Times Mirror Co. chairman, has served on Marsh & McLennan’s board since 1996.

Marsh & McLennan was the target of an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that accused it of price fixing and bid rigging. Former chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg resigned in the wake of that investigation.

In October, the insurance brokerage named Michael Cherkasky as president and chief executive after Greenberg’s resignation. Cherkasky had been the chairman and CEO of the company’s risk and insurance services unit Marsh Inc...

February 24, 2005

Former Marsh Executive Pleads Guilty

Forbes

A former managing director at Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal charges in connection with a state investigation of bid-rigging and price-fixing in the insurance industry.

Kathryn Winter, 50 of Manhattan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court to a felony count of scheme to defraud. She admitted that from 2001 to 2004 her schemes “resulted in clients being tricked and deceived by a deceptive bidding process.”

Winter’s plea agreement with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office requires her to cooperate with his ongoing investigation and testify when needed. This is the same deal Spitzer has with nine other former insurance executives who have pleaded guilty.

Justice James Yates told Winter her sentence, which will likely be imposed upon completion of the probe, will depend on her level of cooperation. The judge said she could get anything from probation, fines to the maximum of four years in prison.

With Thursday’s pleas, Spitzer’s office has obtained 10 guilty pleas from executives of four different companies. Previously, four executives at American International Group Inc., two from Zurich American Insurance Co., two from Marsh and one from ACE Financial Solutions Inc. pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

Winter told the court that with employees of other insurance companies she “intentionally engaged in deception and intentionally caused noncompetitive quotes to be conveyed to Marsh clients under false and fraudulent pretenses.”

Winter said the employees who participated with her in the scheme worked for AIG, Zurich and ACE.

“The primary goal of this scheme was to maximize Marsh’s profits by controlling the market, and protecting incumbent insurance carriers when their business was up for renewal,” Winter said in a statement to the court.

Through this scheme, Winter said, she and other Marsh employees “obtained more than $1,000 from each of numerous clients and insurance carriers in the form of premiums, commissions and fees.”

Winter’s lawyer, David Wikstrom, said his client resigned from Marsh last week.

In January, Marsh executives insisted the wrongdoing was by a few individuals who violated company policy. The company agreed to pay $850 million in restitution to end Spitzer’s investigation into bid rigging and price fixing.

The company, which is based in New York, had hoped the settlement would end similar investigations by other states, including Connecticut, and private lawsuits. Marsh also issued an apology and promised to adopt reforms...

- For much earlier claims of bid rigging and price fixing, GO TO >>> More Claims By Harmon: Marsh & McLennan

February 16, 2005

3 from AIG and Marsh admit
insurance fraud

Bloomberg News

Two executives from American International Group and one from Marsh & McLennan pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud charges resulting from a sweeping investigation into the insurance industry by the New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer.

The men, Josh Bewlay, a former managing director in Marsh’s global broking unit, and Carlos Coello and John Mohs of AIG, pleaded before a New York State Supreme Court judge, James Yates. Coello is an underwriter in an AIG liability insurance unit and Mohs has worked as an assistant vice president in the same unit, their lawyers said.

Spitzer, who is investigating kickbacks and collusion between insurers and brokers, has charged six other executives from Marsh, AIG, Ace and Zurich Financial Services since he sued Marsh on Oct. 14.

Marsh, the largest insurance broker in the world, ousted its chief executive and agreed last month to pay $850 million to settle its case.

Bewlay, Coello and Mohs were led out of a New York Police Department precinct in Lower Manhattan in handcuffs before appearing in court....

January 21, 2005

Connecticut AG Sues Marsh, Ace Financial in Broker Commission Case

Insurance Journal

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Friday sued insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Inc., and insurance provider ACE Financial Solutions Inc., for a scheme in which ACE reportedly paid Marsh a secret $50,000 commission to steer an $80 million state contract to the company.

Blumenthal’s office is investigating whether ACE may have paid additional illegal commissions to Marsh in the deal.

Marsh reportedly never told the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which paid the company $100,000 to act as its advisor on the contract, about the $50,000 or any additional payments. Marsh reportedly solicited and accepted the $50,000 commission, even though the DAS clearly expected the company to accept no additional fees.

It was also reported that Marsh failed to inform the DAS that ACE was in serious financial difficulty at the time it sought the contract.

The lawsuit is the first of a series of legal actions that Blumenthal expects to bring soon in his ongoing investigation into insurance industry abuses.

“As offensive as this specific scheme is the outrageously common pattern and practice of illegal commissions and kickbacks that it reflects,” Blumenthal said...

Blumenthal’s suit accuses Marsh of violating Connecticut consumer protection laws by accepting a commission other than the $100,000 paid by the state, falsely claiming that it considered only the state’s best financial interests in arranging the contract, and falsely claiming that it recommended ACE sole on ACE’s qualifications.

The attorney general’s action seeks actual and punitive damages, information allowing determination of how much Marsh was falsely paid and reimbursement for legal and investigative expenses.

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(Catbird Note: For an earlier case of alleged corruption, collusion, kick-backs, racketeering, bid rigging and price fixing involving Marsh & McLennan, ACE, The Chubb Group, and other birds of a feather, GO TO > > > Harmon’s Letter to the Hawaii Attorney General; Harmon’s Claim Letter to John Sinnott; Harmon’s Letter to the FBI; Harmon’s Letter to the IRS; Harmon’s Letters to Insurance Commissioners; RICO in Paradise; Claims By Harmon; More Claims by Harmon: Marsh & McLennan )

January 8, 2005

ST. PAUL LINKED TO MARSH FRAUDS

By Diane Levick, The Hartford Courant

The St. Paul Cos. - now part of The St. Paul Travelers Cos. - was among the insurers that benefited from alleged bid-rigging by broker Marsh Inc., the New York attorney general’s office said.

A court document released Thursday on the guilty plea of a Marsh senior vice president draws St. Paul Travelers into the controversy, but does not make clear whether the insurer intentionally participated in any wrongdoing....

Robert Stearns, an executive in Marsh’s excess casualty business, pleaded guilty in a New York court Thursday to the felony of scheming to defraud in the first degree. It was the sixth guilty plea in a far-reaching probe of the insurance industry by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Stearns asked various insurers to submit bids that were less favorable than others, so Marsh could steer business to maximize its profits and protect incumbent insurers on certain accounts that were up for renewal, the felony complaint says.

The sham bids were sometimes called “B Quotes” or simply “B”.

In one example in March 2003, Stearns asked a Marsh broker in an e-mail to get a B quote from insurer Zurich on an account that would be renewing insurance with St. Paul, the complaint says. Stearns suggested “325,000 should work” because St. Paul’s price was $270,000, the complaint says.

Later that day, Stearns repeated the request, and the next day, a Zurich underwriter provided a $360,000 quote to Marsh, the document says.

In another March 2003 example, Stearns was asked by another Marsh executive to get B quotes on an account that was up for renewal with American International Group. “Further e-mails reflect that Zurich, ACE, and St. Paul subsequently offered losing quotes on this account,” the complaint states.

The document does not say whether St. Paul knew its quote for the account would be used in bid-rigging.

However, a Marsh broker’s e-mail that was cited in the document strongly implies he considered the B quotes laughable, as the broker told an ACE underwriter: “need a B for [expletive] and giggles.”

The client renewed insurance with American International Group.

St. Paul Travelers was not named in Spitzer’s bid-rigging lawsuit against Marsh in October, though the suit implicated several insurers including The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. without naming them defendants.

However, Spitzer’s office has subpoenaed information from St. Paul and dozens of other companies.

Meanwhile Friday, Spitzer said he expects the guilty pleas he has gotten so far will lead to more charges.

“We are laying the foundation with these criminal cases that permit us to make criminal cases and bring criminal actions against those more senior within the companies,” Spitzer said after a state assemble hearing in New York, according to Bloomberg News.

In addition to Stearns, guilty pleas have come from two executives at AIG, two from Zurich American Insurance Co. and one from ACE.

In another development, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. said Friday it has named E. Scott Gilbert to the new post of senior vice president and chief compliance officer effective Jan. 24. He was chief compliance counsel for the General Electric Co.

For more, GO TO > > > Claims By Harmon; Office of the U.S. Trustee vs. Harmon; Translyvania Travelers in St. Paul

November 17, 2004

Cooking the Insurance Books

A Decade of Lax Regulation Lays Groundwork for Scandal

By Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch

In October, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed suit against the world’s largest insurance broker, Marsh, accusing it of rigging bids and receiving kickbacks in order to defraud clients such as