FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1996                             (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888





       FORMER PHILIP MORRIS DIRECTOR OF PURCHASING CHARGED
                   WITH TAX EVASION IN NEW YORK


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former Philip Morris Inc. purchasing
director pleaded guilty today for attempting to evade federal
income taxes on $75,000 he received in cash as a kickback from a
supplier of display materials used to advertise and promote
products in retail stores, said the Department of Justice. 
     To date, 10 individuals and four corporations have pleaded
guilty or agreed to plead guilty to various federal charges as a
result of the Department of Justice's ongoing antitrust
investigation of bid rigging, commercial bribery and tax related
offenses in the display industry.
     The Department's Antitrust Division filed criminal charges
in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Michael W. Heinrich
of White Plains, New York.  Heinrich is the second former
employee of Philip Morris to be prosecuted in connection with the
investigation.  
     The case charges that Heinrich, Philip Morris's director of
purchasing from 1988 until 1991, willfully attempted to evade
income tax by failing to report approximately $75,000 he received
from a supplier of point-of-purchase display materials to Philip
Morris.  Point-of-purchase display materials are used to
advertise and display various kinds of consumer goods, primarily
in retail stores.     
     Related charges against New York executive Dani Siegel and
two of his New York corporations, Visart Mounting & Finishing
Corp. and Genetra Affiliates Inc., were filed Monday, June 3,
1996.
     In January 1994, another former Philip Morris purchasing
agent, Louis T. Cappelli of Garden City, New York, pleaded guilty
to charges of bid rigging and tax evasion.    
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the charges arose in connection with
a grand jury investigation in New York City into collusive
practices by suppliers of point-of-purchase display materials.
     Bingaman said the investigation, being conducted by the
Antitrust Division's New York Field Office with the assistance of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue
Service, is continuing.  
     Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, bribery, or
fraud in the display industry may contact the New York Division
of the FBI at (212) 384-1000.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of willfully
attempting to evade income tax is five years in prison and a fine
not to exceed the greatest of $250,000, twice the pecuniary gain
derived from the crime or twice the pecuniary loss to the
victims, together with the costs of the prosecution.
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