In theory, this was a help-suit game-try, asking North to look in particular at his club holding for the purposes of bidding four spades.
But he insisted that American was wrong to say that the true purpose of his bid was to preserve the ticketing agreement.
The defendants began their participation, the indictment says, about May 1988, when they flew to Frankfurt to meet with Holzmann executives for the purpose of discussing bid-rigging on the contracts.
For the purpose of collecting bids from the operators, in each market level and area a dedicated logical broker is in operation.
The only purpose of including bid amount is to create a monopoly revenue source.
"Rumors about a bid to acquire a fertilizer company or about negotiations with the purpose of making a bid to acquire such company are totally unfounded," the company said in a regulatory filing.
"The purpose of a pre-emptive bid is to shock and awe," he said, adding that if he had offered less, another network's appetite might have been whetted.
The plants are development engines and although they have only a few hours' operational life left in them, this is more than adequate for the purpose of a Land Speed Record bid.
Is this sort of bidding war decent?
There is one round of bidding.
