On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced that it had arrested eight executives and charged them “for their role in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate markets for United States sales of marine hose used to transport oil.” The press release also states that:

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Miami, against four executives: Peter Whittle, owner of the U.K.-based consulting firm PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd.; Bryan Allison, managing director, and David Brammar, sales and marketing director, both of the U.K. company Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd.; and Jacques Cognard, the oil and marine manager of Trelleborg Industrie S.A. in France. A separate criminal complaint was filed late last night in U.S. District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. against four executives: Christian Caleca, the president of the Industrial Hose Business Unit of Trelleborg Industrie S.A. in France; Vanni Scodeggio, a business unit manager at Parker ITR slr in Italy; Francesco Scaglia, a product manager at Manuli Rubber Industries SpA in Italy; and Misao Hioki, an executive involved in the sale of marine hose for Bridgestone Corporation in Japan. According to the criminal complaints, the charged executives participated in the conspiracy at various times during the period from at least 1999 to the present. … Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transport oil between tankers and storage facilities and buoys. Marine hose is purchased by companies such as Shell, Exxon, and Chevron that are involved in the off-shore extraction and transportation of petroleum products. It is also purchased and used by the Department of Defense. Court papers allege that during the conspiracy the conspirators sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products. According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint charging Whittle, Allison, Brammar and Cognard, the conspirators met in locations such as Key Largo, Fla., Bangkok, and London. At these meetings, the conspirators discussed and agreed to the rules for implementing their bid-rigging, price-fixing and allocation scheme. They also allegedly kept agendas and detailed “minutes” of cartel meetings.

Technorati Tags: antitrust, price fixing, marine hose, more exciting than the cement industry price fixing cases DOJ has recently been bringing

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