Sports Equipment Company Owners and Sales Professional Indicted for Bid Rigging Schemes Affecting Mississippi Public Schools

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Jon Christopher Burt (also known as Tank) of Columbus, Mississippi, Gerald Steven Lavender (also known as Jerry Lavender) of Columbus, Mississippi, and Jack Nelson Purvis Jr. (also known as Jay Purvis) of Laurel, Mississippi, for orchestrating bid rigging conspiracies targeting the sale of sports equipment to public schools in Mississippi.

The indictment, filed in the Northern District of Mississippi, alleges that, from approximately July 2010, up to and including July 2023, Burt, Lavender, and Purvis engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for the sale of sports equipment to Mississippi public schools. The indictment further alleges from approximately June 2016, up to and including September 2022, Burt was engaged in a separate conspiracy to rig bids for the sale of sports equipment to Mississippi public schools. The Defendants’ conduct affected at least 44 public schools and millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.

“Where our country sees an opportunity for children to shine, the defendants conspired to rig bids to benefit themselves,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel Glad of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Public school funding — in this case for school sports — enriches the lives of these students in Mississippi and will be protected from fraudulent schemes. The Antitrust Division will continue to ensure that opportunities for public school children and taxpayer dollars receive the benefit of a competitive bidding process.”

“Stealing from public schools is stealing from the American people – plain and simple,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office. “The egregious fraud carried out through bid-rigging schemes represents a blatant betrayal of public trust. Burt, Lavender, and Purvis allowed greed to drive them to mislead multiple schools, manipulate the competitive bidding process, and exploit the desire to provide children with quality sporting equipment for their own personal gain. The FBI and our federal partners will not allow criminals to rob our public-school systems and walk away without consequences. They will be held accountable and face justice.”

According to the indictment, Burt, Lavender, and Purvis engaged in these conspiracies to circumvent the Mississippi procurement laws requiring two competitive bids for procurements over $5,000. Burt, Lavender, and Purvis, along with their co-conspirators, including some school coaches acting as co-conspirators, agreed in advance who would win the bid. The conspirators agreed to provide complementary, intentionally higher-priced fake bids often referred to as “second quotes” to Mississippi public schools, submitted the higher-priced bids to the schools, and received procurements for school sports equipment where the complementary bids were submitted.

Burt, Lavender, and Purvis are charged with one count of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and Burt is charged with an additional count of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

The maximum penalty for the Sherman Act for individuals is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

These indictments result from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the school sports equipment industry being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi. Assistant Chief Laura Butte, Trial Attorneys Marc Hedrich and Jessica Bigby, and Senior Litigation Counsel Paul Torzilli are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) is a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government — federal, state and local. To learn more about the PCSF, or to report information on bid rigging, price fixing, market allocation and other anticompetitive conduct related to government spending, go to www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force.

Whistleblowers who voluntarily report original information about antitrust and related offenses that result in criminal fines or other recoveries of at least $1 million may be eligible to receive a whistleblower reward. Whistleblower awards can range from 15 to 30 percent of the money collected. For more information on the Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program, including a link to submit reports, visit www.justice.gov/atr/whistleblower-rewards.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.