The discovery was a part of an internal audit by Marsh and was not connected to any current investigations related to the ongoing probes of contingent fees, the company said.

Barbara Perlmutter, senior vice president of public affairs for Marsh & McLennan Companies, the parent company of Marsh, said the matter did not involve any embezzlement of funds on the part of the employee.

Alfred J. Modugno, vice president of corporate communications for Marsh, said the firm would not release the name of the employee involved.

Since October, Marsh has been the center of a controversy involving price-fixing, bid-rigging and improper placement of insurance contracts in return for profitable contingent commissions. A suit filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accuses the broker of taking millions in "payoffs" from major insurers.

As part of its own internal investigation, Ms. Perlmutter confirmed that a London law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which conducted a probe of Marsh U.K., found no evidence of bid-rigging on the part of that unit. However, the probe did find that brokers may have been pressured to steer insurance placements to carriers paying profitable contingent commissions. She added that no client was harmed by the practice.

According to published reports, the unit accounted for $200 million of the more than $840 million in contingent commissions Marsh collected in 2003. As a result of Mr. Spitzer's suit, Marsh is no longer accepting such commissions.

Ms. Perlmutter also confirmed that Michael Cherkasky, president and chief executive officer of MMC, said that Marsh's internal probe should be completed in early January.

The company has set aside more than $230 million to be used as part of a settlement to Mr. Spitzer's suit, which seeks punitive damages. The final cost of the settlement is expected to be substantially higher.