NU Online News Service, Jan. 17, 12:40 p.m. EST

The New York attorney general has withdrawn charges against two Marsh executives who recently won an appeal of their conviction on felony monopoly charges for accepting contingent commission kickbacks.

According to a statement from the law firm Cooley LLP, the charges against Edward McNenney, a former executive at insurance broker Marsh, a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies, were dropped by the office of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman last week.

A spokesperson for the law firm said in an e-mail that the charges against his co-defendant, William Gilman, were also dropped.

"The New York attorney general's dismissal of the indictment against Ed results in the complete and total vindication on all charges of wrongdoing against him," said Cooley litigation partner Scott Devereaux in a statement. "We are very pleased to have achieved this result, and we commend Ed for having the courage to fight these unfounded charges against him."

"Following six long years my family and I are able to put this behind us and move forward with our lives," Mr. McNenney said in the same statement. "I am deeply appreciative of my Cooley legal team for their skill and dedication to this matter."

Several requests for comment from the Attorney General's Office were not immediately returned.

Mr. McNenney and Mr. Gilman were convicted in 2008 of felony monopoly charges for accepting contingent commission kickbacks and sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years probation. They were acquitted of 36 other charges against them after an 11-month non-jury trial.

The judge threw out the conviction in July last year after it was learned that the prosecution failed to disclose information that would have had an impact on the outcome of the case.

In December, then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo withdrew his appeal of the judge's decision.

The case grew out of the bid-rigging and contingent fee commission scandal at Marsh & McLennan in 2005 that began with an investigation by then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Mr. McNenney and Mr. Gilman were among eight who were indicted back in 2005 on charges of bid-rigging and defrauding clients.

The allegations cost MMC $850 million to the state of New York in 2005 and resulted in the company agreeing to no longer take contingent commissions. The commissions were also totally banned at Aon, Willis and Arthur J. Gallagher until last year when the four reached an agreement to take some contingents, provided the transactions were fully transparent.

Only Willis has said it will not take any contingents despite getting the green light to do so.

Special Reports /

N.Y. AG Withdraws Charges Against Marsh Execs

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