The New York Post

July 21, 2005 Thursday

All Editions; Pg. 2

564 words


SPITZER TOOK 25G FROM WRIST-SLAP FIRM'S MAN

KENNETH LOVETT Post Correspondent



ALBANY - A giant insurer investigated by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer got what was widely viewed as a slap on the wrist just days after Spitzer pocketed a $25,000 campaign donation from a high-ranking former employee, The Post has learned.

An ex-senior vice president of Aon Corp. - who sources say still consults for the company and spends time at its offices - made the contribution to Spitzer's gubernatorial war chest three days before a settlement with the international insurance broker was announced, records show.

Richard F. Ferrucci, a Long Island resident who worked for Aon from 1993 through late 2003, made the donation on March 1, according to Spitzer's latest campaign fund-raising report. Spitzer's settlement with Aon was announced March 4.

Under the deal, no Aon execs were forced to resign and the company admitted no wrongdoing after being probed for steering business to companies that in turn paid fees back to Aon. The firm paid a $190 million fine.

At the time, critics charged that Spitzer went easy on Aon and noted that the deal differed from a similar case of alleged wrongdoing at insurer Marsh & McLennan, in which the attorney general forced the chairman out and three employees were criminally charged.

Though Ferrucci is no longer with Aon, two Aon employees on Long Island said yesterday he still spends time at the company and serves as a consultant.

Spitzer also received $50,000 from attorneys with Constantine Cannon, one of two firms which represented Aon in the settlement talks with the attorney general's office, records show.

Spitzer is a longtime friend of the firm's chairman, Lloyd Constantine, and the two were partners in private practice.

Constantine, who headed up Spitzer's transition team in 1998, has donated $36,000 to Spitzer's campaigns in recent years - including $15,000 since last October when the Aon investigation was in full swing, records show.





Other attorneys from Constantine Cannon have donated an additional $35,600 to Spitzer since October, according to the records. Constantine, who helps Spitzer raise campaign money, said he believes the attorney general's office actually treated him more harshly to avoid allegations of favoritism during the settlement talks.

"I represented Aon with diligence," he said. "I don't believe I got any favoritism from the AG's office," he said.

It's the second instance in which Spitzer has taken large donations from lawyers representing companies he's investigating.

The Post reported in April that Spitzer had received $18,500 from members of another of his old law firms that had been hired by AIG - even as the insurance giant was under investigation.

Spitzer's campaign has a policy of not taking donations from employees of companies under investigation, but that does not apply to lawyers representing the firms.

Editor's Note: Lloyd Constantine has done legal work for News Corp., the parent company of The Post.

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Follow the money

March 1: Former Aon exec Richard Ferrucci (left) donates $25,000 to Eliot Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign.

March 4: Settlement with Aon announced. Critics call it a slap on the wrist.

* Spitzer (right) has received donations of $36,000 from Lloyd Constantine, who represented Aon in the settlement talks, while the investigation was underway.

* Attorneys with the firm Constantine Cannon donated $35,600 to Spitzer.

-Eliot Spitzer -Richard Ferrucci -Eliot Spitzer

July 21, 2005



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