FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1997                          (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
       NORTHERN VIRGINIA REAL ESTATE SPECULATOR INDICTED IN
                         BID RIGGING SCAM


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury today indicted a
northern Virginia real estate speculator for participating in a
criminal bid rigging scheme to hold down prices at residential
real estate auctions in northern Virginia, the Justice Department
announced.

     Thus far, 18 individuals and one corporation from
Washington, D.C. and Virginia have pleaded guilty or were
convicted as a result of the Justice Department's ongoing
antitrust investigation into foreclosure auction bid rigging.

     The three-count indictment, filed today in U.S. District
Court in Alexandria, charges Lawrence L. Rosen of Falls Church,
Virginia, with bid rigging, mail fraud, and obstructing tax
enforcement.  Rosen is charged with conspiring with a group of
real estate speculators who agreed not to bid against each other
at real estate foreclosure auctions in northern Virginia. 
 
     According to the charges, the conspirators suppressed
bidding at public auctions, allowing a designated bidder to
purchase property.  They would later meet secretly to hold a
second auction in which each conspirator bid an amount above the
public auction price.  The conspirator who bid the highest amount
won the property.  That amount was the group's illicit profit,
and was divided among the conspirators in payoffs made later.

     Rosen was charged with mail fraud in connection with mailing
payoffs, and conspiring to obstruct tax enforcement by agreeing
to conceal bid rigging payoffs by making them in cash.
    
     Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Department's Antitrust Division, said, "This case is the next
step in our ongoing aggressive efforts to stop this type of bid
rigging scam that victimizes homeowners who are already in a
tough spot -- facing foreclosure.  We will continue to
investigate and prosecute vigorously, with help from the FBI and
the IRS."

     Twelve individuals and one corporation were convicted from
1989 to 1991 after the Department's previous investigation of
real estate auction bid rigging in Washington, D.C. 
     
     In January of this year, Mija S. Romer and Khem C. Batra of
northern Virginia, were convicted after trial on charges of
participating in the same bid rigging conspiracy charged in the
Rosen case.  Four other real estate speculators from northern
Virginia -- Alexander Giap, Leo Gulley, Donald Kotowicz and G.
Frank Stinnett -- have pleaded guilty as part of this same
scheme.  

     Rosen's involvement in the northern Virginia bid rigging
scheme began as early as October of 1991 and continued through
April of 1995, the Department said.

     The Department's Antitrust Division and Helen F. Fahey, U.S.
Attorney in Alexandria, worked jointly to bring about today's
charges.

     Klein said the northern Virginia antitrust investigation,
which is being conducted by the Division's Litigation I Section
with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the Internal Revenue Service, is continuing.

     Rosen faces imprisonment of up to 13 years and fines of up
to $850,000 or more depending on losses created by the crime. 
 
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a Sherman
Act bid rigging violation committed after November 16, 1990, is
three years imprisonment and a fine of the greatest of $350,000,
twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from the crime,
or twice the pecuniary loss suffered by the victims of the crime.

     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of mail
fraud is five years imprisonment and a fine of the greatest of
$250,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from
the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss suffered by the victims of
the crime.

     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of tax
enforcement obstruction is five years imprisonment and a fine of
the greatest of $350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual
derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss caused by the
crime.
                                 

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