FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1995                             (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
        NEW YORK DAIRY PLEADS GUILTY AND WILL PAY $250,000
       FOR ITS PARTICIPATION IN MILK BID RIGGING CONSPIRACY

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Niagara Milk Cooperative Inc. pleaded
guilty today to participating in a milk bid rigging conspiracy
involving New York public schools and was sentenced to pay the
United States a $200,000 criminal fine and the state $50,000 in
restitution.  
     The Department, in a one-count felony charge filed in U.S.
District Court in Rochester, New York, said Niagara Milk, based
in Niagara Falls, New York, and others conspired to rig bids,
allocate contracts and refrain from bidding competitively against
one another to supply milk and related products to schools in
western New York in violation of the Sherman Act.  The conspiracy
began in early 1989 and continued until June 1992, the Department
said.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the charges arose in connection with
a grand jury investigation in western New York into collusive
practices by dairy products suppliers.  These charges bring the
total number of cases brought against dairy products suppliers to
129.
     The investigation was conducted by the Division's New York
Field Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
Antitrust Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office.
     To date, 65 corporations and 59 individuals have been
convicted and a total of approximately $59 million in fines
imposed in cases involving the supply of dairy products to public
school districts.  Some 29 individuals have been sentenced to
serve an average of approximately seven months imprisonment. 
Sixteen grand juries in 12 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 the victims of the crime.
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95-294