Forwarding execs charged with price fixing

Dip Shipping president and sales manager were arrested Tuesday for allegedly raising forwarding service prices charged to U.S. customers.    The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday said two freight forwarder executives of a New Orleans-based company were arrested in Miami on charges of conspiring to fix prices on forwarding services offered to shippers. 
   According to documents from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Roberto Dip, president of New Orleans-based Dip Shipping Co., and his sales manager, Jason Handal, participated in the price-fixing scheme related to forwarding services with a group of Honduran forwarders starting in March 2014 to at least March 2015. 
   During meetings between the co-conspirators, the Justice Department said they discussed and agreed to raise prices charged to U.S. customers by implementing set “commissions” in port cities throughout the United States. The discussions were recorded in emails and other documents. 
   “Emails allegedly show that Dip and Handal were aware that their conduct was in violation of U.S. antitrust laws and that they instructed co-conspirators to avoid leaving written evidence of their conduct,” the Justice Department said.
   At a detention hearing before a magistrate judge in Florida on Wednesday, Dip was ordered detained pending trial, while Handal was released on conditions including a $500,000 personal surety bond. 
   According the company’s website, Dip Shipping has offices scattered throughout the Gulf and Southeast.