United States v. Portac, Inc., United States of America v. Howard L. Wolf

Portae, Inc., a sawmill company, and Howard Wolf, an employee of Portae, appeal criminal convictions stemming from a conspiracy to rig bidding on a government timber sale held on March 22,1985. Portae was charged with aiding and abetting the formation of a conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of trade, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (1982), and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (1982). Howard Wolf was charged with making false material declarations under oath, before a grand jury investigating the rig bidding. 18 U.S. C. § 1623 (1982). We affirm both convictions.

FACTS

On February 18, 1985, the U.S. Forest Service advertised that an estimated 8,100,-000 board feet of timber in Soleduck Ranger District would be auctioned on March 22, 1985, by competitive bidding. The sale was known as the “Up and Adam” timber sale. Three companies, Hoh River Timber Inc., (“Hoh River”), Astoria Plywood Corp., (“Astoria”), and Seattle-Snohomish Inc., (“Sea-Sno”) submitted sealed bids, and were the only companies represented at the sale. Hoh River and Sea-Sno bid the minimum acceptable amount ($515,728) established by the Forest Service. Astoria bid $20.50 above the minimum amount. Evidence…