FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1995                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

PRESIDENT OF MASSACHUSETTS COMPANY RECEIVES STIFF PENALTY FOR HIS
 INVOLVEMENT IN A NATIONWIDE PLASTICWARE PRICE FIXING CONSPIRACY


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The president of a Chelmsford,
Massachusetts, company received one of the stiffest penalties
ever imposed involving a one count Sherman Act antitrust
violation today for his participation in a nationwide price
fixing conspiracy involving the major U.S. manufacturers in the
$100 million a year disposable plastic dinnerware industry, the
Department of Justice announced.
     Clement Izzi, the president of Comet Products Inc., received
a sentence of 21 months in prison and a fine of $90,000 from
Judge Robreno of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.  Izzi
is the last of seven individual defendants and three corporate
defendants to be sentenced in connection with this case.  Each of
the other six individual defendants received terms between eight
and 15 months and also received personal fines totaling more than
$200,000.  The fines imposed on the corporate defendants totaled
nearly $9 million.
     "These tough antitrust penalties prove that corporate
executives who break the antitrust laws and harm consumers aren't
going to get away with it," said Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant
Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.  "The
Antitrust Division will continue to go after those who
participate in national price fixing conspiracies."
     The investigation became public in December 1992 when the
FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police simultaneously executed
search warrants in the United States and Canada.  In June 1994,
two company presidents and a corporate vice president were
indicted in Philadelphia for their involvement in the price
fixing conspiracy.  Four other executives and three companies
were named in separate charges.  The Department charged that
executives of Plastics Inc., Polar Plastics Mfg. Ltd., and Comet
Products Inc. secretly telephoned and met with each other to
further a price fixing conspiracy that lasted from December 1991
to December 1992. 
     In December 1994, Izzi pleaded guilty to an indictment
charging him with one count of price fixing in violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act.  Comet Products competes with Polar
Products Manufacturing Ltd. of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and
Plastics Inc. of St. Paul, Minnesota.  Both Polar and Plastics
Inc., as well as several top-ranking executives of those
companies, pleaded guilty to price fixing and related offenses. 
Comet Products agreed to pay a fine of $4.2 million, Plastics
Inc. agreed to pay a fine of $4.16 million, and Polar Plastics
agreed to pay a fine of $460,000.
     The following individuals have already been sentenced for
their involvement in the price fixing conspiracy:
     --Robert Westbrook, president of Plastics Inc.:  15 months
in prison; and a fine of $75,000.
     --James Nurmi, vice president of Plastics Inc.:  five months
in prison; five months in a half way house; and a fine of
$20,000.
     --Warren White, vice president of Plastics Inc.:  four
months in prison; four months in a half way house; and a fine of
$10,000.
     --Russell Greer, vice president of Comet Products Inc.: 
five months in prison; five months in a half way house; and a
fine of $20,000.
     --Andrew Liebmann, vice president of Polar Plastics:  four
months in prison; four months in a Canadian half way house; and a
fine of $50,000.
     --Basem Atallah, vice president of Polar Plastics:  four
months in prison; four months in home confinement; and a fine of
$50,000.
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