SIXTH EXEC PLEADS GUILTY IN AD PRINT SCANDAL

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- James Rattoballi, president of Print Technical Group, a New York-based print brokerage firm, pleaded guilty today to one count of rigging bids submitted to Grey Global Group's Grey Advertising, and to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Mr. Rattoballi is the sixth person to plead guilty in the case revolving around Grey, which is at the center of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of bid-rigging, bribery, fraud and tax-related offenses in the advertising, printing and graphic industries.

Bid rigging
Mr. Rattoballi pleaded guilty to one count

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of rigging bids and allocating contracts from approximately late 1994 until 2001, for the supply of retouching and separation services contracted through Grey for its client Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.

Mr. Rattoballi also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently inflate invoices to Grey. The inflated invoices would then be passed on to Grey's clients for payment, and to pay kickbacks to Mitchell Mosallem, a former Grey executive vice president and director of graphic services, the government alleged.

Mr. Mosallem and several other defendants were indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan on related charges on Sept. 17.

The bid-rigging charge carries a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment and a $350,000 fine. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.