NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A former senior executive at Marsh & McLennan Cos. pleaded guilty to criminal charges yesterday in a wide-ranging probe of fraud and bid-rigging in the insurance industry.

Kathryn Winter, a former senior executive of Marsh, Inc., admitted that during a period from 2001 to 2004, she instructed insurance carriers to submit non-competitive bids for insurance business, the office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a Press release.

The former broker and managing director pleaded guilty before Justice James Yates in New York County Supreme Court to the crime of scheming to defraud in the first degree ? which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Ten employees at four companies in the insurance industry have now pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the probe.

Like the other employees, Winter is cooperating with the investigation and is expected to testify in future cases.

On October 14 Spitzer sued Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world?s largest insurance brokerage, accusing the largest insurance broker of rigging bids and fixing prices for coverage, while steering business to insurers who paid the highest placement fees.

Last month, Marsh agreed to pay $850 million to settle the suit, in line with the placement fees it collected in 2003, and agreed to reform a series of its business practices.

At that time, Spitzer had said charges would be brought against individuals involved in the illegal business practices.

?This is an unfortunate but not unexpected development. The Marsh & McLennan employees who have entered into plea agreements had worked in the excess casualty unit and we continue to cooperate with the attorney general in ongoing investigations,? said Marsh & McLennan spokeswoman Barbara Perlmutter.