FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 1996                              (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

    TWO FORMER SUPPLIERS OF DISPLAY MATERIALS TO PHILIP MORRIS
     AND THEIR SALESWOMAN INDICTED IN BID RIGGING CONSPIRACY


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A New York City federal grand jury
returned an indictment today against a New York saleswoman and
two companies she represented for bid rigging in connection with
the supply of advertising display materials to Philip Morris
Inc., said the Department of Justice.
     To date, the Department's ongoing antitrust investigation
into bid rigging, commercial bribery and tax-related offenses in
the display industry, has resulted in the prosecution of 11
individuals and four corporations.
     The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in New York
City, charged Amy Winikoff of New York City, Winko New Jersey
Inc., and Republic Container Corporation with participating in a
bid-rigging conspiracy from as early as October 1987 and
continuing until at least July 1991 involving contracts awarded
by Philip Morris Inc. in New York City for the supply of display
materials used to advertise and promote products in retail
stores. 
     According to the indictment, Winko New Jersey Inc.,
originally known as Republic Container Corporation, sold display
materials to Philip Morris through Winikoff, its saleswoman. 
Another company, renamed as Republic Container in January 1991,
continued those sales with Winikoff remaining as the saleswoman
on the account.  
     The indictment charges that the defendants and others rigged
the bids that Philip Morris received for contracts for display
materials and made substantial payments of money to purchasing
agents at Philip Morris for their assistance in controlling the
company's program for seeking competitive bids for the contracts.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, said, "This
indictment represents a continuation of the Division's efforts to
clean up anticompetitive activity in the display materials
business."
     Last week, a federal grand jury returned an indictment
against New York executive Dani Siegel, another former supplier
to Philip Morris, and two of his New York companies, Visart
Mounting & Finishing Corp. and Genetra Affiliates Inc. 
     Bingaman noted that Winikoff and the two companies indicted
today supplied displays made of corrugated material and said that
the only other suppliers of corrugated displays to Philip Morris
between the mid-1980s and late 1991, Southern Container Corp. and
Manufacturers Corrugated Box Co. Inc., and a salesman for
Southern, had already been prosecuted.  
     Winko has its principal place of business in Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey.  Republic has its principal place of business
in Jersey City, New Jersey.
     The Department's investigation is being handled by the
Antitrust Division's New York Field Office with the assistance of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue
Service.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act committed after November 16, 1990,
is three years in prison and a fine not to exceed the greatest of
$350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from
the crime or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of
the crime.  
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act committed after November 16, 1990, 
is a fine not to exceed the greatest of $10 million, twice the
pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime or twice
the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.
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96-266