"The likelihood that different bidders would bid in such a way as to receive identical yields on 26 separate groups of tax liens is far too unusual to be coincidence," the FBI wrote.
The outcome was much the same a year later in Prince George's and Montgomery counties, according to the FBI.
In another example cited in the affidavit, FBI agents said they watched Baltimore County's live auction on May 31, 2007. Berman and Nusbaum sat across the aisle from each other in the back row of benches. Each time Nusbaum bid, he shouted "taxes." Whenever this happened, Berman did not bid.
On one bid, Berman "pulled his paddle down abruptly" after hearing Nusbaum shout "taxes," according to the FBI. At one point, an agent overheard Berman tell Nusbaum that the "next one is mine," according to the FBI.
Less than a month later, as an FBI surveillance team looked on, the three men met in the morning at Berman's Baltimore County office, then drove to the Montgomery County government building in Rockville and dropped off bid envelopes, according to the affidavit. The FBI also noted that Stollof and Nusbaum arrived at Berman's office about 8:45 a.m. on May 14, 2007, minutes before the kickoff of the Baltimore online auction.
The FBI also cited phone records logging more than 200 phone calls between Berman and Stollof - who worked with Berman's father, Malcolm Berman, at the old Fairfax Savings and Loan in Baltimore - in the months before the 2007 Baltimore sale.
According to the affidavit, the FBI also found evidence of bid rigging by Stollof and Nusbaum in 1992 as part of an investigation into the possible bribery of a public official. FBI agents monitoring the city's tax sale that year concluded that the partners "would divide up the properties that they would bid on, thus minimizing any competitive bidding," according to the affidavit.
The FBI did not substantiate the bribery allegations and closed the investigation without filing charges.
Nusbaum and Stollof made headlines for one purchase they made through that sale - the failed Fishmarket, which they took title to for $700,000 in unpaid property taxes. They later sold the Inner Harbor redevelopment site to the city for $2.4 million.
