NY Attorney General Complaint

I've uploaded the text of the actual complaint against Marsh to my website at http://home.comcast.net/~cscg/SpitzerMarsh1014.pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

For those who are not familiar with the insurance brokerage business involved in this lawsuit, the first few sections of this document provide a fair amount of introductory level explanation.

As far as the actual charges, the lawsuit alleges incidents such as the following...

53. An example of the operation of this system is evident in the bidding for the excess casualty insurance business of Fortune Brands, Inc., a holding company engaged in the manufacture and sale of home products, office products, golf products, and distilled spirits and wine. On December 17, 2002, an ACE assistant vice president of underwriting sent a fax to Greg Doherty, a senior vice president in Marsh Global Broking’s Excess Casualty division, quoting an annual premium of $990,000 for the policy. [ACE-INA-005754] Later that day, ACE revised its bid upward to $1,100,000. On the fax cover sheet with the revised bid, ACE’s assistant vice president wrote: "Per our conversation attached is revised confirmation. All terms & conditions remain unchanged." [ACE-INA-005755-6]. An email the next day from the assistant vice president to an ACE vice president of underwriting explained the revision as follows: "Original quote $990,000 . . . We were more competitive than AIG in price and terms. MMGB requested we increase premium to $1.1M to be less competitive, so AIG does not loose [sic] the business. . ." [ACE-INA-005757]


72. As part of its vigorous effort to steer the Greenville contract to Zurich, Marsh sought a false bid from a competing insurer and then, despite that insurer’s refusal, submitted a wholly fictitious bid on that insurer’s behalf. On December 16, 2002, Glenn R. Bosshardt, the Global Broking vice-president assigned to the project and Joan Schneider’s subordinate, contacted an assistant vice-president of underwriting at CNA, an individual with whom he had previously worked and who had already told Bosshardt that CNA had no interest in bidding on the Greenville project. In an email Bosshardt stated: "[P]er my voicemail, we need to show a CNA proposal. I will outline below the leading programs (ACE & Zurich). I want to present a CNA program that is reasonably competitive, but will not be a winner." [Marsh-NY 89930] Bosshardt proceeded to reveal the ACE and Zurich quotes on the project and then proposed numbers that CNA should quote in order to lose the bid but still appear to have been competitive. Although CNA never authorized Marsh to submit this bid, it was submitted to Institutional Resources as a legitimate competing bid. [Marsh-NY 89630-31]