New York AG indicts 8 former execs of largest US insurance brokerage News
New York AG indicts 8 former execs of largest US insurance brokerage

[JURIST] New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] and State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills [official website] Thursday said that eight former senior executives of Marsh & McLennan [corporate website] had been indicted [PDF] for bids given "under false pretenses." Spitzer said bid rigging carried out from November 1998 to September 2004 cost customers of the US's largest insurance brokarage company millions of dollars. Marsh & McLennan in January agreed to pay $850 million in restitution to persuade Spitzer to stop his investigation [JURIST report] into bid rigging and price fixing, but this did not prevent Spitzer from obtaining a guilty plea [JURIST report; official press release] from a Marsh executive in February for client deception.The charges included first-degree scheming to defraud, restraint of trade and competition, and grand larceny. The defendants all entered "not guilty" pleas and were released in NY Supreme Court Thursday. As a corporation, Marsh & McLennan faces no criminal sanctions. Read Spitzer's press release on the indictments. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia

On September 5, 1774, the first assembly of the Continental Congress, forerunner of the US Congress, convened in Philadelphia to protest the so-called "Intolerable Acts" passed by the British Parliament. Review the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress.

France passes conscription law

On September 5, 1798, France promulgated a conscription policy with the passage of the Jourdan Law. The law instituted a draft for all males between the ages of twenty and twenty-five with exceptions for clergy, holders of public office, and certain students and industrial workers. The law also allowed the wealthy to pay for someone else to take their place in the military.