Stamp Dealers Accused of Auction Price Fixing

Seven stamp dealers are accused in a lawsuit filed by attorneys general in California, New York and Maryland of working together to hold down the prices they bid for stamps at auctions.

In a civil complaint filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, the states said the dealers schemed for nearly 20 years to fix auction prices. The dealers earned about $5 million in illegal profits, the states said.

According to the suit, the seven dealers would hold their own secret auction before the public bidding. The dealers agreed that only the winner of the secret auction would bid on the stamps at the public auction and would spend no more than the top secret-auction bid, the states said.

The states are seeking money damages and a court order to halt the alleged practice.

The states’ suit said the seven dealers called their plot “The Ring.” The lawsuit was filed by California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, New York’s Elliot Spitzer and Maryland’s J. Joseph Curran.