FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1997                             (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

MINNESOTA, IOWA DAIRIES AGREED TO PLEAD GUILTY AND WILL EACH PAY
  $1 MILLION FOR PARTICIPATING IN MILK PRICE FIXING CONSPIRACY


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two dairy companies--one from Minnesota
and the other from Iowa--agreed to plead guilty today and pay 
a total of $2 million in fines and penalties for participating in
a milk price fixing conspiracy involving public school contracts
in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. 
 
     Wells Dairy Inc. of LeMars, Iowa agreed to pay a 
$1 million criminal fine to the federal government.  The Norwood,
Minnesota-based Geo. Benz & Sons Inc., which does business as Oak
Grove Dairy, agreed to pay $1 million, including a $540,000
criminal fine to the federal government plus restitution to the
State of Minnesota on behalf of public school districts and state
institutions in the amount of $460,000.

     To date, 70 corporations and 59 individuals have been
convicted and a total of about $70 million in fines and damages
imposed in cases involving the supply of dairy products to public
school districts and other customers.

     The Department, in a one-count felony charge filed today in
U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, said Wells Dairy and others
conspired to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate customers with
respect to certain public school contracts for the sale of dairy
products in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa in violation of the
Sherman Act.  The conspiracy began in Spring 1986 and continued
to May 1992, the Department said.

     The Department, in a separate one-count felony charge also
filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, said Oak Grove Dairy
and others conspired to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate
customers with respect to certain public school contracts for the
sale of dairy products in Minnesota in violation of the Sherman
Act.  The conspiracy began in Spring 1986 and continued to May
1992, the Department said.

     Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division, said the charges arose in connection
with an investigation in Minnesota and surrounding states into
collusive practices by dairy products suppliers.  These charges
bring the total number of cases brought against dairy products
suppliers to 134.

     The plea agreements resulted from an ongoing investigation 
conducted by the Division's Chicago Field Office with the
assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota.  

     Restitution for the State of Minnesota was obtained through
the efforts of the U.S. Department of Justice and Minnesota
Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III.

     As part of the Antitrust Division's investigation involving
the supply of dairy products to public school districts and other
customers, twenty-nine individuals have been sentenced to serve
an average of approximately seven months imprisonment.  Five
grand juries in four states continue to investigate the milk
industry.

     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation occurring 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 victims of the crime.

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