Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 1 of 6 PageID: 1
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
`
`v.
`
`MERCER S.M.E., INC.,
`
`Defendant.
`
`Criminal No.: Z ~ ( l. Cll f3Z -I
`HON. D.\~. CAVAJU\UGH, USD
`
`Filed:
`
`Violation: 15 U.S.C. § 1
`
`INFORMATION
`
`The United States of America, acting through its attorneys, charges:
`
`1.
`
`MERCER S.M.E., INC. ("MERCER") is hereby made a defendant on the charge
`
`stated below:
`
`SHERMAN ACT CONSPIRACY
`(15 U.S.C. § 1)
`
`RELEVANT PARTIES AND ENTITIES
`
`2.
`
`At all times relevant to this Information, MERCER was a New Jersey corporation
`
`located in Burlington, New Jersey. MERCER was engaged in the business of receiving the
`
`assignment of municipal tax liens. The municipal tax liens MERCER held were initially
`
`purchased at auctions conducted by municipalities in the State of New Jersey.
`
`1
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
`
`v.
`
`MERCER S.M.E., INC.,
`
`Defendant.
`
`Criminal No.: Z ~ ( l. Cll f3Z -I
`HON. D.\~. CAVAJU\UGH, USD
`
`Filed:
`
`Violation: 15 U.S.C. § 1
`
`INFORMATION
`
`The United States of America, acting through its attorneys, charges:
`
`1.
`
`MERCER S.M.E., INC. ("MERCER") is hereby made a defendant on the charge
`
`stated below:
`
`SHERMAN ACT CONSPIRACY
`(15 U.S.C. § 1)
`
`RELEVANT PARTIES AND ENTITIES
`
`2.
`
`At all times relevant to this Information, MERCER was a New Jersey corporation
`
`located in Burlington, New Jersey. MERCER was engaged in the business of receiving the
`
`assignment of municipal tax liens. The municipal tax liens MERCER held were initially
`
`purchased at auctions conducted by municipalities in the State of New Jersey.
`
`1
`
`
`
`Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 2 of 6 PageID: 2
`
`3.
`
`CC-1 was a nonprofit corporation under section 501 ( c )(3) of the Internal Revenue
`
`Code, located in Burlington, New Jersey.
`
`4.
`
`CC-1 regularly bid on and purchased tax liens auctioned by municipalities in the
`
`State ofNew Jersey. In some instances, CC-1 assigned certain tax liens it owned to Mercer.
`
`Mercer received a note payable from CC-1 in exchange for each lien assigned. The note payable
`
`was satisfied with proceeds from the redemption of the assigned lien, or from the sale of the
`
`property associated with the lien following foreclosure.
`
`5.
`
`Various other persons and entities, not named as defendants herein, participated
`
`as co-conspirators in the offense charged herein and performed acts and made statements in
`
`furtherance thereof. Whenever in this Information reference is made to any act, deed, or
`
`transaction of any corporation, such allegation shall be deemed to mean that the corporation
`
`engaged in such act, deed, or transaction by or through its officers, directors, agents, employees,
`
`or representatives while they were actively engaged in the management, direction, control, or
`
`transaction of its business or affairs.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`6.
`
`A municipal tax lien is a legal restriction on real property (whether commercial,
`
`residential, industrial or land) imposed by municipalities in the State of New Jersey.
`
`7.
`
`When the owners of real property in the State of New Jersey fail to pay real
`
`property, water or sewer taxes, the municipality in which the property is located may attach a
`
`lien. If, after a waiting period, the lien remains unpaid, the lien may be sold at a live tax lien
`
`2
`
`
`
`Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 3 of 6 PageID: 3
`
`auction. The value of the lien sold at the auction includes the amount of unpaid taxes on the
`
`property, accrued interest, and any applicable costs or penalties.
`
`8.
`
`The State of New Jersey has approximately 566 municipalities, which include
`
`cities, boroughs and townships. Municipalities hold their tax lien auctions at least annually.
`
`Bidders at these auctions include individuals, companies, banks and other financial institutions.
`
`9.
`
`At a tax lien auction in the State of New Jersey, bidders bid on the interest rate the
`
`property owner will pay upon redeeming the tax lien attached to the owner's property. The bid
`
`opens at the statutory maximum of 18 percent, and through a competitive bidding process, can be
`
`driven down to 0 percent. At that point, the bidders may pay a premium, meaning the amount of
`
`money the winning bidder pays in addition to the lien amount. The winning bidder has the right
`
`to collect the amount of the lien from the delinquent taxpayer, along with the winning interest
`
`rate, in addition to any subsequent taxes paid by the winning bidder and applicable interest and
`
`penalties. The winning bidder also has the right to foreclose on the property owner's right of
`
`redemption of the tax lien and take title to the property if the taxes owed on the property, accrued
`
`interest, or any applicable costs or penalties remain unpaid.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE OFFENSE
`
`10.
`
`From at least as early as the beginning of 2003 until approximately February
`
`2009, the exact dates being unknown to the United States, MERCER, CC-1 and their co(cid:173)
`
`conspirators entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate
`
`competition by submitting non-competitive and collusive bids at certain public auctions for tax
`
`liens conducted by municipalities within the District of New Jersey. The combination and
`
`conspiracy charged in this Information was carried out, in part, within the five years preceding
`
`3
`
`
`
`Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 4 of 6 PageID: 4
`
`the filing of this Information. The combination and conspiracy engaged in by MERCER, CC-1
`
`and their co-conspirators was in unreasonable restraint of interstate trade and commerce in
`
`violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1).
`
`11.
`
`The charged combination and conspiracy consisted of a continuing agreement,
`
`understanding, and concert of action among MERCER, CC-1 and their co-conspirators, the
`
`substantial terms of which were to rig bids for and allocate tax liens being auctioned by
`
`municipalities within the District of New Jersey.
`
`MEANS AND METHODS OF THE CONSPIRACY
`
`12.
`
`For the purpose of forming and carrying out the charged combination and
`
`conspiracy, MERCER, CC-1, and their co-conspirators did those things that they combined and
`
`conspired to do, including, among other things:
`
`a.
`
`b.
`
`c.
`d.
`
`e.
`
`attended meetings and engaged in discussions or conversations regarding
`bids for tax liens being auctioned by municipalities within the District of
`New Jersey;
`agreed during those meetings and discussions not to compete at
`certain tax lien auctions by allocating which tax liens each would bid on or
`refrain from bidding;
`submitted bids in accordance with the agreements reached;
`purchased tax liens pursuant to those agreements at collusive and
`non-competitive interest rates; and
`transferred from CC-1 to MERCER, by way of assignment and for
`consideration, certain municipal tax liens which CC-1 and MERCER
`understood were purchased in accordance with the agreements reached.
`
`TRADE AND COMMERCE
`
`4
`
`
`
`Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 5 of 6 PageID: 5
`
`13.
`
`At all times relevant to this Information, funds from outside the State of New
`
`Jersey were used by one or more of the co-conspirators to purchase tax liens at auctions subject
`
`to the conspiracy. Out-of-state bidders participated in multiple tax lien sales or auctions in the
`
`State of New Jersey and paid for tax liens won with out-of-state funds.
`
`14.
`
`At all times relevant to this Information, the activities of the defendant and its co-
`
`conspirators with respect to the sale of municipal tax liens that are the subject of this Information
`
`were within the flow of, and substantially affected, interstate trade and commerce.
`
`ALL IN VIOLATION OF TITLE 15, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 1.
`
`Dated: I)../)~/ )1::>\J...
`
`~l _ _
`
`SCOTT D. HAMMOND
`Deputy Assistant Attorney General
`
`Director of Criminal Enforcement
`
`~ C~c--
`
`BR AN C. BUGHMAN
`CHARLES V. REILLY
`DEBRA C. BROOKES
`LUDOVIC C. GHESQUIERE
`Trial Attorneys, Antitrust Division
`U.S. Department of Justice
`26 Federal Plaza, Room 3630
`New York, New York 10278
`(212) 335-8041
`
`5
`
`
`
`Case 2:12-cr-00832-DMC Document 1 Filed 12/19/12 Page 6 of 6 PageID: 6
`
`CASE NUMBER:
`
`United States District Court
`District of New Jersey
`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
`
`v.
`
`MERCER S.M.E., INC.
`
`INFORMATION FOR
`
`RENATA B. HESSE
`ACTING ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
`
`ANTITRUST DIVISION
`
`BRYAN C. BUGHMAN
`TRIAL ATTORNEY
`212-335-8041
`
`
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
Still Working On It
This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.
Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.
A few More Minutes ... Still Working
It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.
Thank you for your continued patience.
This document could not be displayed.
We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
Set your membership
status to view this document.
With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll
get a whole lot more, including:
- Up-to-date information for this case.
- Email alerts whenever there is an update.
- Full text search for other cases.
- Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.
One Moment Please
The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.
Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.
Your document is on its way!
If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.
Sealed Document
We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.
If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.
Access Government Site
