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| Â | Price Fixing, Bid Rigging and Market Allocation Schemes |
 | | Bid rigging is the way that conspiring competitors effectively raise prices where purchasers — often federal, state, or local governments — acquire goods or services by soliciting competing bids. | | | Bid Suppression : In bid suppression schemes, one or more competitors who otherwise would be expected to bid, or who have previously bid, agree to refrain from bidding or withdraw a previously submitted bid so that the designated winning competitor's bid will be accepted. | | | Complementary bidding schemes are the most frequently occurring forms of bid rigging, and they defraud purchasers by creating the appearance of competition to conceal secretly inflated prices. |
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http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/guidelines/primer-ncu.htm
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| Â | Bid Rigging |
| | Although bid rigging may be as simple as two friends who agree not to outbid each other, larger and more organized rings of dealers and wholesalers are the ones that drastically impede the fair market of the auction process. | | | Because bid rigging lowers the sale price, discourages those outside the ring to bid and is illegal, bid rigging negatively affects everyone who attends and conducts auctions. | | | While the forms bid rigging takes are constantly evolving, the primary goal remains the same; to illegally control prices to save money. |
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http://www.harryrinker.com/bidrigging.html
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| Â | State to investigate insurance bid-rigging - 2004-10-21 - The Business Journal of Portland |
| | Among other issues, regulators are investigating charges that insurance brokers steered business to favored insurance companies through use of false bids, in order to take advantage of contingent commissions paid by those companies. | | | The state agency is joining insurance regulators in other states to look into allegations that have led to recently announced criminal charges and related civil investigations into bid-rigging, price-fixing and payoffs involving insurance brokers and insurance companies. | | | If confirmed, these practices may have resulted in increased insurance costs for businesses and individuals. |
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http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2004/10/18/daily36.html?jst=m_ln_hl
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| Â | EU/Competition/Glossary : B |
| | For example, firms may agree their bids in advance, deciding which firm will be the lowest bidder. | | | Alternatively, they may agree not to bid or to rotate their bids in number or value of contracts. | | | DEFINITION Particular form of co-ordination between firms which can adversely affect the outcome of any sale or purchasing process in which bids are submitted. |
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http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/general_info/b_en.html
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| Â | Spitzer Sues Broker Used for Workplace Insurance (bid-rigging caused employees higher premiums) |
| | Spitzer's lawsuit are long-established practices that have been adding to the cost of health care and other employee benefits for decades. | | | But industry executives say the payments are often the main factor in a broker's recommendation of which insurance company a client should choose. | | | "Whatever form the payments take, they are all ultimately passed onto employers and employees by the insurance companies,'' said John Randazzo, the chief executive of BenefitPoint, an electronic system that allows corporate customers and insurers to bid openly on employee benefits coverage. |
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1279018/posts
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| Â | Crain's New York Business news, lists, rankings, directory and more |
| | Marsh & McLennan Cos.' London operations did not engage in bid rigging, according to a review commissioned by the beleaguered insurance broker. | | | However, the use of contingent commission arrangements was widespread and may have pressured employees to steer business to certain insurers, the report found. |
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http://www.crainsny.com/news.cms?id=9390
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| Â | Consumer Law - How to identify and report local bid-rigging, price-fixing |
| | To file a complaint online with the District's Office of the Corporation Counsel, use the online "Price Fixing and Bid Rigging Report Form." Or you can contact the offices listed below. | | | How can you know if price fixing or bid rigging is occurring? | | | Each agency can handle a wide range of complaints; complaints of mainly local significance are more likely to be of interest only to OCC. |
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http://www.thecommondenominator.com/cl102102.html
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| Â | NY Printing Broker Pleads to Bid Rigging and Conspiracy |
| | The kickbacks allegedly took the form of payments by Bechand on the SSB executive's credit card and home equity line of credit, and to pay off additional expenses incurred by the executive. | | | As a result of the alleged corrupt relationship between Bechand and the SSB executive, SSB paid higher prices for printing than it would have if its executive had aggressively and honestly solicited competitive prices from other vendors. | | | The cover bids were allegedly designed to subvert SSB's competitive bidding requirement and to lead SSB to believe that it was receiving the best value for its money, when in fact it was not. |
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http://www.tristatenews.com/printer_2714.stm
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| Â | Marsh U.K. review finds no bid rigging - Insurance - Financial Services - Company Announcements |
| | Marsh U.K. review finds no bid rigging - Insurance - Financial Services - Company Announcements | | | SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- A law-firm review of Marsh and McLennan's U.K. insurance brokerage operations found no bid rigging, but it concluded that brokers were influenced by commissions paid by underwriters. | | | Last Update: 5:06 PM ET Dec 2, 2004 |
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http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=moreover&guid={A6B01FFC-0AFD-4250-A65C-267ABE6AB445}
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| Â | Bid Rigging |
| | Anyone with knowledge of possible bid rigging, bidder collusion, or other fraudulent activities should use the "hotline" to report such activities. | | | The "hotline" is part of the DOT's continuing effort to identify and investigate highway construction contract fraud and abuse and is operated under the direction of the DOT Inspector General. |
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http://www.dor.state.ne.us/letting/bid-rig.htm
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| Â | Bloomberg.com: U.S. |
| | Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Two underwriters at Zurich Financial Services AG, the third-biggest U.S. commercial insurer, pleaded guilty to charges they helped rig bids to help an insurance broker give business to favored clients. | | | Spitzer and other state officials told a U.S. Senate panel today that alleged abuses they found in the insurance industry indicate the need for more federal oversight, including tougher antitrust rules. | | | In his complaint against Marsh, Spitzer said insurers inflated quotes as part of a phony bidding system Marsh designed to steer business to the insurers that paid it the highest fees. |
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=af9plxQ4sr4c&refer=us
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| Â | Virtual Stamp Club - Bid Rigging Part 2 |
| | The suit charges the companies kept bid prices low by conducting their own secret auctions before the actual public sales. | | | The other ring members agreed to withhold bids and were compensated. | | | In 1996 and 1997, the ring allegedly fixed bids at most of the large stamp auction houses in the United States, including Sotheby's, Christie's, Daniel Kelleher & Co., Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries, Mathew Bennett and Ivy & Mader Philatelic Auctions. |
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http://www.virtualstampclub.com/auctionfix2.html
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| Â | Contractor Pleads Guilty to E-Rate Bid Rigging |
| | The E-Rate program is designed to help schools and libraries connect to the Internet and is financed by fees added to consumers' telephone bills. | | | The E-Rate program is based on a competitive bidding process, and the fund's top service providers include IBM, SBC, Verizon, Bellsouth and Qwest. | | | Duane Maynard, a former employee of a Fresno, Calif., electrical contracting firm, has admitted to federal bid rigging in order to obtain multi-million contracts to install computer networking and Internet access for the West Fresno Elementary School District. |
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http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3069181
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| Â | Bid rigging, fraud and damage common in Iraq |
| | The United States is paying more than $780 million to one British firm that was convicted of fraud on three federal construction projects and banned from U.S. government work during 2002, according to an Associated Press review of government documents. | | | Seven other companies with Iraq reconstruction contracts have agreed to pay financial penalties without admitting wrongdoing. | | | A Virginia company convicted of rigging bids for American-funded projects in Egypt also has been awarded Iraq contracts worth hundreds of millions. |
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http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/04/27/news/world/421458792344630787256e830003f3bd.txt
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| Â | GreenvilleOnline.com - Trustees pursue bid-rigging case |
| | Wade Cleveland, the school district's lawyer, said he is unsure what cost, if any, there is to taxpayers, since the district is not a party to the insurance contract. | | | Spitzer alleged a system of rigged bids and payoffs from insurance companies in his 31-page lawsuit. | | | The New York state attorney general has alleged in a lawsuit that Marsh undermined the competitive process by steering clients such as school districts, companies and others to insurers that paid the broker a fee instead of the one offering the best deal. |
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http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2004/10/26/2004102651729.htm
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| Â | Contracts Stopped Over Bid Rigging - JapanUpdate.com |
| | Itoman City officials halted awarding all city construction contracts after they found evidence that companies that had been invoiced in the bidding process had engaged in rigging the bids. | | | Competitive bidding would work counter to that and cause financial problems to involved companies,” a company manager who wants to remain anonymous, said of the practice. | | | Officials say that they uncovered evidence that staff from a number of companies had had meetings where they discussed the projects and agreed on prices they would bid. |
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http://www.japanupdate.com/en?id=2495
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| Â | Xposed - Men's Magazine: Chicago Firm Must Pay $417G in Bid Rigging |
| | Chicago Firm Must Pay $417G in Bid Rigging | | | Fawell, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in the case, has admitted he funneled supposedly secret information about bids from rival companies to Jacobs through his administrative aide and now fiancee, Andrea Coutretsis. | | | Coutretsis has admitted passing the information to former Ronan Potts executive Julie Starsiak, and Starsiak has admitted giving it to two former employees of Jacobs, which had retained the lobbying firm to help land the contract. |
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http://www.xposed.com/headline_news/55_ds_1303314.aspx
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| Â | Top News Article Reuters.com |
| | Marsh said Freshfields law firm had also failed to uncover any evidence that Marsh's clients had paid more for insurance cover as a result of so-called "contingent commissions", at the heart of a recent insurance scandal in the United States. | | | New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent shockwaves through the insurance industry in October when he sued Marsh for alleged price rigging. |
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6976286
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| Â | Apfelbaum pleads guilty to bid-rigging conspiracy |
| | In a plea agreement with the government executed also on Jan. 28, Earl P.L. Apfelbaum Inc., received a fine of $130,000 and was ordered to pay restitution of at least $150,000. | | | approximately $20 million in stamps were sold at public auctions at which the defendants and co-conspirators rigged the prices bid," the complaint stated. | | | Other individuals not named in the action conspired with defendants to carry out their illegal scheme, and performed acts in furtherance of defendants' conspiracy. |
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http://www.stampsmauritius.com/ApfelbaumPleadsGuilty.htm
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| Â | Bid Rigging and the Threat of Government Prosecution |
| | A legal authority chooses whether to investigate the buyers on the basis of the bids tendered. | | | In this article, I develop a simple bidding model in which collusion is endogenous. | | | Buyers at a first-price sealed-bid auction decide whether to rig their bids given that they face the threat of government prosecution. |
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http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/WoPEc/data/Articles/rjerandjev:26:y:1995:i:autumn:p:398-417.html
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| Â | Crime Attorneys: Bid Rigging Defense |
| | In some states, the laws governing this crime have become more rigid, and the punishment for a conviction can often be quite severe. | | | it is extremely important that you entrust your case to an attorney with a strong history of winning bid rigging cases. |
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http://www.fightforme.com/bidrigging.html
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| Â | NPR : Zurich American Underwriters Plead Guilty in Bid-Rigging Case |
| | Two former senior underwriters for Zurich American Insurance Company pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in connection with the scheme. | | | Morning Edition, November 17, 2004 · New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is conducting an investigation of bid rigging in the insurance industry. |
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http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=4174145
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| Â | Contractor Pleads Guilty To E-Rate Bid Rigging |
| | The company says information will become reusableand flexible to a degree never before experienced. | | | [ more ] August 27, 2003 Contractor Pleads Guilty to E-Rate Bid Rigging By Roy Mark The first guilty plea has been entered in the nationwide probe of the government's troubled E-Rate program. |
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http://www.webprowire.com/summaries/569528.html
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