NEW YORK A former outdoor advertising executive pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a fraud charge relating to his involvement in an alleged conspiracy in which he received about $176,000 in kickbacks from printing company The Color Wheel. That concern has for two years been at the center of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into bid rigging, fraud, tax evasion and other offenses in the graphics supply industry.
According to the one-count charge filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Barry Holland of Northport, N.Y., a former vice president at New York’s Transportation Displays, received kickbacks from The Color Wheel in exchange for steering contracts to that company from approximately 1991 through 2000.
The Color Wheel, also in New York, was sold to new management last year and is now known as 291 Digital. Its former owner and founder Haluk Ergulec pleaded guilty last year to charges stemming from the DOJ investigation.
Last March, Ergulec was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution, $100,000 of which was to be paid to media giant Viacom for his participation in activities involving Holland.
Transportation Displays is part of the Viacom Outdoor Group. Holland had primary responsibility for purchasing printing at Transportation Displays and later at the Outdoor Group itself.
According to the charge, the DOJ said that other printing companies were prevented from selling their services to Transportation Displays because of the relationship between Holland and The Color Wheel. Also, Holland’s company probably paid higher prices for printing than it would have if he had aggressively and honestly solicited competitive prices from other vendors, one source said.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, three years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Holland’s sentencing will likely take place in September. Lawyers for Holland could not immediately be reached.
Ad Exec Pleads Guilty in Print Scandal Case
