Eliot Spitzer faces $90m defamation lawsuits

Eliot Spitzer and Slate magazine are being sued by two ex-insurance executives who claim the former New York governor and the online publication defamed them in a column.

The two executives, William Gilman and Edward McNenney, worked for Marsh & McLennan Companies, and were the target of a prosecution by Spitzer when he was attorney general of New York.

Gilman filed a $60m suit in Manhattan federal court and McNenney filed a $30m suit in state court.

Spitzer wrote the column in 2010 in response to a Wall Street Journal editorial he said disparaged the cases he brought against Marsh.

Both Spitzer and Slate's editor say the suits are frivolous.

A judge convicted Gilman and McNenney in 2008 of violating state antitrust laws. The convictions were later overturned.

AP