Insurance Broker Fraud Attorney

Did you buy overpriced insurance?

The New York Attorney General's office recently filed a lawsuit against two insurance brokers for fraud and various antitrust violations, including bid rigging. That lawsuit alleges that the brokers negotiated kickbacks (called "contingent commission" or "placement service" agreements) with certain insurance companies. Using these kickback agreements, the insurance brokers obtained inflated or false price quotes that they used to steer their customers into purchasing higher priced insurance policies issued by the insurance companies that paid the brokers the highest kickbacks.

Read the New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's official complaint.

The Attorney General's lawsuit names only certain brokers and is for New York residents only. However, our firm represents insurance fraud victims all over the country as these illegal practices pervade the insurance brokerage industry nationwide.

You may have bought overpriced insurance and may be the victim of fraud and bid rigging if you purchased insurance through any broker. Some of the brokers named so far are:

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Marsh, Inc.
Marsh USA, Inc. (Connecticut)
AON Corporation
AON Brokers Services, Inc.
AON Risk Services Companies, Inc.
AON Risk Services, Inc. U.S.
AON Group, Inc.
AON Services Group, Inc.
Willis Group Holdings Limited
Willis Group Limited
Willis North America, Inc.

If you were a stockholder in any of these firms you may also be a victim. Contingent commissions, which would have been based on the rigged bids perpetrated by these firms and agents, comprise 5 percent of revenues and 15 percent of earnings for the publicly traded brokers. According to Cochran, Caronia Securities LLC, out of Chicago, "Reduction or elimination of revenues related to these arrangements would have an obvious negative effect on profitability."

Shares of Marsh had gone down 37 percent in the two days after news of this investigation broke. Shares of many of the other publicly traded brokers also dropped in price rapidly.

If you purchased insurance through or were a stockholder in any insurance broker, even if not listed above, please use the form below to contact our law firm for a free consultation to determine if you have a claim as a result of purchasing overpriced insurance.

References