After a joint investigation between the Office of the Attorney General and the Special Commissioner for Investigation for the New York City School District, the state alleged a decade-long conspiracy between two of the New York metropolitan area’s largest copier and duplicator retailers to supply customers in violation of the Donnelly Act, New York’s antitrust law. The investigation also led to the indictment of a salesperson for bribery and bid-rigging in connection with the sale of copiers and duplicators to New York City schools. The CEO of Candle Business Systems, pled guilty to violating the Donnelly Act and admitted to entering into a customer allocation agreement with Atlantic Business Products, Inc., another substantial copier dealer. In addition to Weiss’s plea to criminal Donnelly Act violations, Candle entered into a consent decree to resolve a civil complaint filed by the state and to pay $400,000 in penalties and costs. The consent decree bars Candle from entering into similar illegal agreements in the future, and places restrictions on its sales to the Board of Education. The joint investigation, upon which these civil and criminal cases were based, also disclosed that Candle had previously entered into an illegal customer allocation agreement with another significant office equipment dealer, Copyworld of America, Inc. It further revealed that salespersons from Candle and other copier dealers had engaged in extensive improper conduct in their sales to the Board of Education, including the submission of fictitious bids and charging schools far in excess of Board of Education contract prices.