People of New York v. Bert Adams Disposal
Company pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Donnelly Act. According to the indictment, from about July 2014 until May 2016, the company entered into collusive agreements with Taylor Garbage Service to rig bids for waste-hauling, recycling, and related services, and forced customers to pay excessive prices for basic services. The companies conspired through in-person meetings, phone calls, and text messages. According to the plea agreement, over this two-year period, the companies exchanged hundreds of text messages and calls. Their arrangements included, among other methods, the companies agreeing to not pursue the business of each other’s current customers and deciding in advance which company would win a bid, and agreeing to submit a deliberately inflated bid or price quote, or not to submit a bid at all, to a customer to ensure the incumbent company would keep the contract. The CEO and employees of the company also pled guilty and paid an additional $150,000 in criminal fines. See also, People v. Bert Adams, People v. Elbert Adams, People v. Christopher Kline.
People v. Denise Arboleda, New York
In the course of a bid-rigging investigation, Denise Arboledo withheld documents relevant to the investigation from the attorney general’s office. This is a misdemeanor violation of New York State General Business Law sec. 343.
People of New York v. Kaloyeros and Nicolla
SUNY-Poly, a state university, issued RFPs for building projects. Kayoleros was president of SUNY Poly and Nicolla was a member of the Board of Directors of SUNY-Poly and Presdent of Columbia Development, a bidder on projects at SUNY Poly. According to the indictment, they manipulated the awarding of contracts to direct them to favored businesses, including Columbia, by developing language that gave a competitive advantage to some bidders and gave confidential information to those bidders,
People of the State of New York v. Lynch, Maggio, Rivera, Wiesner
Defendants, government officials and executives at private companies, engaged in an ongoing bid-rigging scheme to rig the bids o fcertain local development corporation contracts in Monroe County New York. The scheme included funneling contracts to favored entities, creating fake contracts, inflating subcontracts and submitting false invoices. Participants also laundered the proceeds through payments for their personal benefit, payments relating to golf, and political payments.
People of New York v. Sdao, Indictment # 01125/2012
A former project manager for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation was convicted of accepting more than $20,000 in bribes to rig Bronx playground contracts. Among other counts, the defendant was charged with two counts of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition, a violation of the Donnelly Act. According to the indictment, in his official capacity as a Project Manager for the Parks Department, the defendant provided a particular vendor with copies of the engineer’s estimate for two projects, prior to the date sealed and competitive bids were due. The engineer’s estimate is an internal Parks Department document not intended for distribution to bidders before they submit their bids. In exchange, the defendant agreed to accept a percentage of the contract price if that vendor won the contracts. The defendant was sentenced to 12 weekends in jail and five years of probation and ordered to pay forfeiture of $30,000.
People v. Doherty et al., No. 04800-2005 (NY Sup. Ct. , Apr. 28, 2008)
A New York County grand jury indicted eight employees of the insurance broker Marsh McLennan, alleging that they colluded with certain insurers to arrange noncompetitive excess casualty bids and conveyed the bids to clients under false pretenses. Two of the former employees were convicted on a single count each of violating the Donnelly Act, New York’s antitrust statute, and were sentenced to 16 weekends in jail and five years probation. The court dismissed twenty other larceny and fraud counts. At least eighteen other people have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from New York’s investigation of the insurance industry. The remainng defendants were acquitted of all charges. In 2010, the trial judge threw out the convictions on the basis of newly-discovered evidence.
New York v. Rattenni; 179 A.D.2d 691, 578 N.Y.S.2d 257 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. Jan 13, 1992); app. granted 79 N.Y.2d 1053, 596 N.E.2d 418, 584 N.Y.S.2d 1020 (N.Y. May 21, 1992);aff’d, 81 N.Y.2d 166, 613 N.E.2d 155 (1993)
Defendants entered into a customer allocation agreement and agreed to withdraw from each other’s primary market areas in the waste hauling business in parts of New York and Connecticut.
New York v. Anselment
State charged former officer of non-profit that provided housing and other services to developmentally disabled adults with rigging bids for repair work. The agency received a substantial part of its funding from the state’s Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
People v. Schuster, Cir. Ct for Orange Cty, NY
Defendants allegedly submitted sham bids on each others’ electronic auctions on E-Bay, causing consumers to pay more for items on which “shill” bids were made. Defendants pleaded guilty.
People v. Joseph Weiss
Joseph Weiss was the CEO of Candle Business Systems (See New York v. Candle Bus. Sys. Inc.) He pled guilty to a market allocation scheme with Facsimile Communications in connection wtih copiers sold to the City Board of Education.
