In contravention of a public, competitiveauction, Crusader conspired to rig the tax lien bidding by allocating certain liens to members of the conspiracy, thus ensuring that the prevailing bidder took the lien with an artificially higher interest rate than would likely have been derived from open competitive bidding.
Plans were drafted to simplify and brighten Ebay's home page and add features to make the auction process more lively and competitive (for example, a software widget that would show bidders who they were up against).
And hopefully, gathering all the buyers together at once would whet their competitive appetites for what the producers hoped would be a high-stakes auction.