Pleading guilty yesterday to the same charge as Mr. Murphy was Regina Hatton, 37, a broker in Mr. Murphy's division. Marsh broker Nicole Michaels, 31, pleaded to attempted combination in restraint of trade and competition.

Zurich underwriter James Spiegel also pleaded to a scheme to defraud in the first degree.

According to complaints against the brokers, they arranged to have cooperating insurers submit phony quotes that were priced excessively. According to investigators this was done to ensure that incumbent carriers Marsh was representing would retain a client's business.

The bogus quotes were sometimes referred to as "B Quotes, Protective Quotes or Bs," according to the complaints, or were sometimes referred to as "fake."

In a Sept 26, 2002 e-mail, according to the complaint, Ms. Michaels gave an unnamed Zurich underwriter the figures on incumbent insurance carrier American International Group's quotes for a 25 excess of primary layer of excess casualty insurance and a 50 excess of primary layer.

Her e-mail, it was charged included the direction, "[p]lease over price your indications for 25 or 50 or both if you can. This is a fake quote both of them are fake."

Mr. Spiegel at Zurich was a senior underwriter in his company's Excess Casualty unit. According to the complaint against him, he provided phony quotes for Ms. Hatton.

The charge of scheme to defraud carries a possible sentence of one to four years and attempted combination in restraint of trade carries up to a year. A spokesman for the New York Attorney General's Office said charges against the four would likely be withdrawn, "contingent on their cooperation" with the investigation and agreement to testify in future cases.

A spokeswoman for Marsh & McLennan Companies, the parent company of New York-based Marsh, said there would be no comment. She acknowledged the three had been employed by Marsh but said they are no longer with the company.

The others at Marsh who have entered pleas and agreed to cooperate are Josh Bewlay, Robert Stearns and Kathryn Winter. Their cases are pending.

According to Mr. Spitzer's office, the evidence against Mr. Murphy involves e-mails allegedly requesting insurers to submit bogus quotes in an effort to steer business toward AIG.

In order to steer business to AIG, Mr. Murphy, it was alleged, had asked four different carriers on at least two occasions, once in 2001 and once in 2002, to supply bids in excess of the AIG bid. In both cases, the client bound the policy with AIG.