FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	AT

THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1998                                                                                                                                (202) 616-2771

                                                                                                                                                                                 TDD (202) 514-1888




TWO FORMER PURCHASING AGENTS AT WARNER-LAMBERT ARE CHARGED 


IN CONNECTION WITH KICKBACK SCHEME





	WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Two former purchasing agents at 
Warner-Lambert Co. of Morris Plains, New Jersey have been charged with
crimes resulting from a scheme to take kickbacks from a company
that supplied advertising display materials to their former
employer, said the Department of Justice.    

	Today, the Justice Department filed charges, in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan, against Brian X. McCormack of
Vernon, New Jersey.  McCormack was charged with tax evasion and
conspiring to commit mail fraud.  The charges alleged that
McCormack defrauded Warner-Lambert in connection with his receipt
of kickbacks totalling approximately $650,000.  On April 24, the
Justice Department charged Peter Zanone of Cresskill, New Jersey
with one count of filing false tax returns in connection with his
receipt of kickbacks totalling approximately $45,000.  

	According to the charges, McCormack conspired with a
Manhattan-based supplier of point-of-purchase display materials
from 1989 until 1993, to award that supplier at least $20 million
in contracts in exchange for receiving a percentage of that
business.  As a result, the supplier inflated the prices charged
to Warner-Lambert by at least $650,000, and in return paid
McCormack cash payments that were as large as $20,000 per month. 
McCormack failed to comply with Warner-Lambert's policy that
required him to use competitive bidding as the means for
selecting suppliers.  In addition, McCormack is charged with
evading federal income taxes owed on the $650,000 in kickbacks. 

	Zanone, the former manager of promotional printing and
displays at Warner-Lambert, acknowledged during his plea hearing
that he failed to disclose his receipt of kickbacks totalling
$45,000 from the Manhattan-based supplier of displays on his
federal income tax returns from 1989 to 1993.      

	Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Antitrust Division, said the cases stem from an investigation in
the New York City area into collusive practices by suppliers of
point-of-purchase display materials.   Klein said the
investigation, which is 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.  

	According to Klein, "Warner-Lambert was victimized by secret
and corrupt arrangements between two of its employees and a
supplier, and honest, competing suppliers, were prevented from
selling to Warner-Lambert."  

	To date, 15 individuals and 8 corporations have pleaded
guilty to various federal crimes as a result of the Department's
ongoing antitrust investigation into bid rigging, commercial
bribery, and tax-related offenses in the display industry. 
Earlier prosecutions have involved personnel at Philip 

Morris Inc. (NYC),  Heublein Inc. (Farmington, CT), Hiram Walker
& Sons Inc. (Southfield, MI), and Domecq Importers Inc. 

(Old Greenwich, CT).

	Point-of-purchase display materials include display stands,
posters, banners, counter cards and sell sheets that are used for
the advertising or promotion of consumer goods, primarily in
retail stores.

	Warner-Lambert Co. is a producer of both prescription and
over-the-counter medicines and health and beauty products.   

	The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of
participating in a conspiracy to commit mail fraud is five years
in prison and a fine not to exceed the greatest of $250,000,
twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the crime, or twice
the loss to the victims.  

	The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of tax
evasion is five years in prison and a fine not to exceed the
greatest of $250,000, twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from
the crime, or twice the loss to the victim, together with the
costs of prosecution.  

	The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of filing a
false tax return is three years in prison and a fine not to
exceed the greatest of $250,000, twice the gross pecuniary gain
derived from the crime, or twice the loss to the victim, together
with the costs of prosecution.	

	Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, bribery, or
fraud in the advertising and display materials industry should
contact the New York Division of the FBI at (212) 384-1000. 

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