A senior executive at Marsh & McLennan and two AIG employees have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with an ongoing investigation of fraud and bid rigging in the insurance industry, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said.

All three defendants admitted to participating in a scheme that allowed Marsh, the nation�s largest insurance broker, to protect incumbent insurance carriers when their business was up for renewal.

With today�s action, Spitzer�s office has obtained nine guilty pleas from executives at four different companies.

As part of his plea, the managing director of Marsh�s excess casualty unit described an official protocol whereby Marsh clients were given a significantly understated figure when they asked about the amount of revenue Marsh derived from Placement Service Agreements.

Two of the defendants in today�s cases pleaded guilty to the crime of Scheme to Defraud in the First, a class E felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison. The third defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of Scheme to Defraud in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of 1 year in jail. All three defendants pleaded guilty before Justice James Yates of New York County Supreme Court.

The defendants in today�s cases are expected to testify in future cases, as are the six other insurance industry employees who entered criminal pleas. Previously, two executives at AIG, two from Zurich American, one from Marsh and one from ACE pled guilty to criminal charges.

Referred from: (http://www.consumeraffairs.com)