TENNESSEE OIL COMPANY AND ITS PRESIDENT
CHARGED WITH GASOLINE PRICE FIXING

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, today returned a one-count felony indictment charging Hayter Oil Company Inc. of Greeneville, Tennessee, which does business as Marsh Petroleum Company, and its president, Sonny Wayne Marsh, with participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices of retail gasoline in the Greeneville, Tennessee, area.

The indictment, returned in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, charged that the conspiracy began at least as early as 1984 and continued at least through the end of 1988.

On July 19, 1993, the Department filed a one-count felony information in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, charging The Greeneville Oil Company and its president, John Fred Myers, both of Greeneville, Tennessee, with participating in the same conspiracy.

Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, said the charges arose in connection with

a grand jury investigation in Knoxville, Tennessee, into collusive practices by petroleum jobbers. Bingaman said the investigation, being conducted by the Division's Atlanta field office, is continuing.

The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a Sherman Act violation occurring prior to November 16, 1990, is three years imprisonment and a fine that is the greatest of $250,000, twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the crime, or twice the gross pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.

The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a Sherman Act violation occurring prior to November 16, 1990 is a fine that is the greatest of $1 million, twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the crime, or twice the gross pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.

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