The trial lasted more than three weeks, and in the end, three Florida-based promotional products distributors had their names cleared.

On Sept. 14, a jury in federal court in Florida found Lawrence O’Brien, Bruce LaRoche and Thomas Dailey not guilty on charges that they’d conspired to rig bids and fix prices on branded merchandise sold to the United States Army over a five-year span.

The jury also returned not guilty verdicts for LaRoche and O’Brien related to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States government. Dailey was not facing that charge.

All three men are free and have been determined to have committed no wrongdoing in connection with the case, which was brought against them by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

“Our clients are thrilled to see our American legal system work appropriately,” Dailey’s attorney Erik R. Matheney, who is with Tampa, FL-based firm Shutts & Bowen, told ASI Media. “Simply put, the government did not prove their case and our clients did not do what they were accused of doing.”

LaRoche’s attorney offered a similar perspective to ASI Media. “The jury paid close attention to the evidence,” said Kevin J. Napper, a Tampa-based lawyer. “We appreciate the jury members thoughtful consideration of all of the evidence and their rightful conclusion that the defendants were not guilty of the conduct they were charged with.”

Prosecutors alleged that the three promo pros illicitly schemed to eliminate competition among their companies with the aim of securing sales of promo items for a predetermined winner.

To advance the alleged scam, authorities claimed that the conspirators exchanged bid templates and submitted bids to military customers on each other’s behalf. LaRoche and O’Brien also clandestinely used shell companies to propel their supposed schemes, the government alleged.

The jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, however, determined that the evidence did not support the government’s allegations.

David Axelrod, an attorney from the firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick who represented O’Brien, told ASI Media that there was no criminal intent involved in his client’s business dealings, including that there was never an effort to conspire or suppress competition.

One area, Axelrod noted, where the government’s allegations of using shell companies broke down was that the companies were properly registered on the System for Award Management, or SAM.gov, a government e-procurement platform that collects data from suppliers, validates and stores their data, and disseminates it to various government acquisition agencies.

“All [the promo distributors] thought about was providing excellent customer service and meeting the needs of their clients,” Axelrod told ASI Media. “What they tried to do was accommodate their customers. The prices they charged were always fair and reasonable.”

The government had said that the purported conspiratorial activity occurred from about July 2014 to about December 2019. An indictment against O’Brien, LaRoche and Dailey was unsealed in April 2022.

According to court papers, O’Brien’s companies include MP USA Marketing Group (asi/271198), Predator Products LLC, and 125 Marketing LLC. LaRoche’s companies were identified as Allegiance Tactical (asi/117059), Chrome Promotions LLC, and Military Survivalist LLC. Authorities said Dailey’s company was Mission Quest Advertising (asi/287514).