"Agreements among buyers at auctions not to bid against each other for the purpose of purchasing goods at low and non-competitive prices can be a criminal violation of the federal anti-trust laws, punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment.

Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1) prohibits bid rigging or pooling agreements among competitors if they affect or restrain interstate commerce. Upon conviction, individuals are subject to a maximum fine of $250,000 and/or three years' imprisonment.

Bid rigging, or "pooling," consists of any agreement between bidders at auction which lessens competition between them. In recent years, the U. S. Government and private parties have brought lawsuits to restrain and/or penalize bid rigging in art and collectibles auctions. Pooling agreements can be attractive to buyers who do not understand that it is illegal. Not only is bid rigging a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, it is a "per se" violation, meaning that once a bid rigging or pooling agreement has been found, the Government does not have to show that prices were actually affected by the arrangement. In other words, it would not be a defense that the presence of other bidders at the auction caused the books or other items to sell for their fair market value anyway.

In the 1988 case of United States versus Ronald Pook, antique dealers were convicted of pooling at antique auctions. More recently, several dealers pleaded guilty to pooling at an auction of rare bank notes at Christie's in New York."