FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    AT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1994                                   (202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

            NEW YORK MAN CHARGED WITH TAX EVASION FOR HIS ROLE
              IN BID RIGGING CONSPIRACY AGAINST PHILIP MORRIS


   WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Long Island, New York, businessman was
charged today with tax evasion for failing to report $58,000 in
commissions he received to pay kickbacks to purchasing agents at
Philip Morris Inc.
   The case is part of the Department of Justice's ongoing
antitrust investigation of bid rigging, commercial bribery and
tax-related offenses in the display industry.
   The Department's case, filed in U.S. District Court in New
York City, charged Robert Berger of Melville, New York, with
willfully attempting to evade income tax by failing to report
income he generated by issuing false invoices from his businesses
to a number of other companies and then, after the invoices were
paid, returning the proceeds, less his commission, to the
companies that received the invoices, or to other individuals.
   Berger issued false invoices and returned cash to several
companies including AM-PM Sales Co. Inc., whose principals,
Richard T. Billies and Sidney Rothenberg, pleaded guilty to bid
rigging and tax fraud in a related case filed Thursday, 
October 20.
   These cases follow another related case filed earlier this
year against Louis T. Cappelli, a former purchasing agent at
Philip Morris.  The investigation was prompted originally by
Philip Morris, which is cooperating.
   Assistant Attorney General Anne K. Bingaman of the Antitrust
Division said the investigation 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.  
   To date, four individuals and one corporation have pleaded
guilty to various federal charges as a result of the Division's
display industry investigation.  Anyone with information
concerning bid rigging, bribery or fraud in the display industry
may contact the New York Division of the FBI at (212) 264-2700.
   The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of an attempt
to evade income tax (26 U.S.C.  7201) is five years in prison
and a fine not to exceed the greatest of $250,000, twice the
pecuniary gain derived from the crime or twice the pecuniary loss
to the victims, together with the costs of the prosecution.
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