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Manischewitz Charged:
Matzah Price-Fixing
RON OSTROFF
Editorial Coordinator
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12
FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1990
❑
Carter Urges U.S
To Talk Directly To PLO
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he B. Manischewitz
Co., which claims to be
the largest matzah
maker in the world, has been
indicted for allegedly working
with competitors to set the
wholesale prices of Passover
matzah products.
The one count indictment
brought Monday by a federal
grand jury in Newark, N.J.,
comes just three weeks
before Passover — the season
that accounts for half of the
company's annual sales. But
Joe Krovisky, a Justice
Department spokesman
said: "The timing is just a
coincidence."
The indictment alleges
that between "sometime in
1981 and continuing at least
through April 1986,"
Manischewitz and =lamed
others conspired "to sup-
press competition by fixing
prices of kosher for Passover
matzo products in the
United States." The indict-
ment charges that
Manischewitz and other con-
spirators made agreements
about how much Passover
matzah product prices would
be increased.
Robert A. Mann, vice pres-
ident and secretary of
Manischewitz, refused to
talk about the Jersey City,
N.J.,-based company found-
ed in 1888 or the indictment.
"Our attorneys have told us
not to talk about this," he
said.
But in a brief written
statement, the company said
the charges were not true
and that Manischewitz com-
pany would fight them.
"Manischewitz denies the
charges and maintains that
its prices have been in-
dependently and fairly de-
termined and have never
been set pursuant to any
agreement with any com-
petitor," the company
statement said.
Krovisky of the Justice
Department said the
government would not name
other companies or in-
dividuals allegedly involved
with the price-fixing con-
spiracy in violation of fed-
eral antitrust laws.
"The investigation is con-
tinuing," he said. "Further
indictments are possible."
If Manischewitz is con-
victed of price-fixing, the
company could be fined $1
million or twice what it
gained from the alleged
violation of law or twice the
loss said to be suffered by the
victims, Krovisky said.
The indictment noted that
Manischewitz and the
unnamed co-conspirators
sold approximately $25 mill-
ion of Passover matzah pro-
ducts between 1981 and
1986.
The grand jury's action is
part of a two-year federal in-
vestigation into pricing by
the $1.5 billion kosher food
industry.
Last year, the Beverly
Hills, Calif., investment
firm of Levine, Tessler,
Leichtman & Co. offered to
buy Manischewitz for $44.6
million. Even though a sale
agreement was reached, the
deal was not concluded when
the firm asked for informa-
tion about the investigation
and Manischewitz refused.
"This certainly raises the
suspicions of consumers that
there is more than meets the
eye than the prices they
see," said Menachem Lubin-
sky, president of Lubicom
Inc., a New York marketing
and advertising firm spe-
cializing in ethnic accounts.
"This doesn't help with
consumer feelings and [with]
what kosher is all about,"
Lubinsky said. "And it cer-
tainly doesn't help the in-
dustry go beyond the Kosher
consumer."
Jerusalem (JTA) — Former
President Jimmy Carter
urged the Bush administra-
tion Tuesday to hold direct
talks with Palestine Libera-
tion Organization leader
Yassir Arafat and other Pa-
lestinian leaders.
The PLO could play "a
major constructive or
destructive role" in Middle
East peacemaking, Carter
said at a news conference win-
ding up his three-day visit to
Israel.
The United States has
been maintaining a low-
level dialogue with the PLO
since December 1988, but
has had no contact with
Arafat.
Carter said he shared the
Bush administration's oppo-
sition to Israeli settlement