Ace agrees to pay $9 million to settle bid-rigging charges

Ace Ltd. reached a $9-million settlement with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance related to the Philadelphia insurance company's involvement with other insurers and brokers to rig bids for excess casualty insurance, the attorney general said today.

The settlement is in addition to a previous agreement that called for Ace to return $40 million to policyholders for those illegal business practices. They occurred between 2000 and early 2004.

"Ace participated in a scheme with various insurance brokers to falsify quotes in order to easily steer business to preferred insurers, in exchange for the same thing in return," Attorney General Tom Corbett said in a statement.

"This shrewd business tactic created a false appearance of market competition and cheated consumers out of millions of dollars," he said.

The $9 million will be used to reimburse government agencies that had bought Ace excess liability policies.