E-mails star in another Spitzer probe

Oct. 14, 2004
By Greg Morcroft
CBS.MarketWatch.com

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) — Eliot Spitzer clearly doesn’t follow the edict of Henry Stimson, a 20th century U.S diplomat, who once famously stated, “Gentlemen don’t read other people’s mail.”

Spitzer, New York’s current attorney general and the bane of corporate wrongdoers, launched his latest salvo Thursday at several of the nation’s largest insurance companies, using internal e-mails from several of the companies to buttress his case.

Contingent commissions are paid by insurance companies to reward brokers for sending business their way. Critics claim the payments encourage brokers to sell policies from the insurance companies offering the highest commissions, rather than the ones most suited to their customers.

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