3 Former Marsh Executives Acquitted Of Bid-rigging

NEW YORK (AP) — 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.