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Marsh pays $850m to end charges

US insurance broker Marsh & McLennan is to pay $850m (£451m) to settle charges that it conspired with insurance providers to rig the marketplace.

Under the agreement with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, Marsh said it “neither admits nor denies the allegations”.

It will pay the money back over four years to affected policyholders

Ebbers pleads Worldcom ignorance

The former head of Worldcom has told a court that he knew too little about the phone firm’s accounts to be aware of the fraud that drove it to bankruptcy.

Bernie Ebbers’ lawyers argued that their client was a sharp entrepreneur but no accountant.

For that reason, they said, he was not responsible for the $11bn (£6bn) fraud which led to the firm’s 2002 collapse

Trial begins of Spain’s top banker

The trial of Emilio Botin, the chairman of Spain’s most powerful bank, Santander Central Hispano, has started in Madrid.

Mr Botin is accused of misusing the bank’s funds after he approved the payment of 160m euros ($208m; £111m) in bonus and pension payouts to two former executives.

However, the trial was suspended when Mr Botin’s lawyer introduced a new set of documents on the day testimony was set to begin

Parmalat bank barred from lawsuit

Bank of America has been banned from suing Parmalat, the food group which went bust in 2003 after an accounting scandal.

The bank – along with investors, auditors and the group’s managers – want damages for being victims of fraud at the hands of the Italian firm.

But a judge has barred Bank of America and two auditors from the case

Criminal probe on Citigroup deals

Traders at US banking giant Citigroup are facing a criminal investigation in Germany over a controversial bond deal.

The deal saw the sale of 11bn euros ($14.4bn; £7

Parmalat auditor barred from lawsuit

Bank of America has been banned from suing Parmalat, the food group which went bust in 2003 after an accounting scandal.

The bank – along with investors, auditors and the group’s managers – want damages for being victims of fraud at the hands of the Italian firm.

But a judge has barred Bank of America and two auditors from the case

Watchdog probes Vivendi bond sale

French stock market regulator AMF has filed complaints against media giant Vivendi Universal, its boss and another top executive.

It believes the prospectus for a bond issue was unclear and that executives may have had privileged information.

AMF has begun proceedings against Vivendi, its chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou and chief operating officer Jean-Bernard Levy

WorldCom trial starts in New York

The trial of Bernie Ebbers, former chief executive of bankrupt US phone company WorldCom, has started in New York with the selection of the jury.

Mr Ebbers, 63, is accused of being the mastermind behind an $11bn (£6bn) accounting fraud that eventually saw the firm collapse in July 2002.

His indictment includes charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and filing false reports with regulators

Morgan Stanley hit by record fine

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has hit US investment bank Morgan Stanley with a record $19m (£10m) fine.

The penalty, the largest so far imposed by the exchange, was the result of regulatory and supervisory lapses at Morgan Stanley, the NYSE said.

The NYSE said it had discovered “supervisory, operational and technological deficiencies” in some of Morgan Stanley’s operations

Ex-AOL staff face criminal charge

Two former executives at America Online face criminal charges after an FBI investigation into claims of fraudulent transactions with a software supplier.

The duo – Kent Wakeford and John Tuli – have been charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.

Prosecutors claim the pair colluded with executives at PurchasePro to inflate revenues at the two firms