German national charged here with bid rigging
A German national has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate market shares for sales of marine hose in the United States and outside the country.
The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that former marine hose industry executive Uwe Bangert was named in an indictment returned in July and unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale.
Marine hose is a type of flexible rubber hose that is used to transfer oil between tankers and on-port storage terminals. The Justice Department said the victims in the alleged conspiracy include the companies involved in off-shore extraction and transportation of petroleum products, as well as the U.S. Defense Department.
The indictment charges that the conspiracy involved the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products, with sales controlled by a worldwide cartel.
Bangert's indictment is part of a series of charges being brought against executives from the marine hose industry. Eight foreign executives were arrested in May in Houston and San Francisco, following their participation in a cartel meeting in Houston, federal authorities said. On Dec. 12, Bryan Allison and David Brammar, executives with the U.K-based marine hose manufacturer Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. pled guilty to participation in the marine hose scheme. Under plea agreements, Allison will serve 24 months in jail and Brammar will serve 20 months. Peter Whittle, a former Dunlop employee, who is now an independent consultant, pleaded guilty and acknowledged a leadership role in the conspiracy, the Justice Department said. He will serve 30 months in prison.
Under the agreement, Allison, Brammar, and Whittle were returned to custody in the U.K., where they were arrested Dec. 18 and charged with cartel offenses under U.K. law.
In November 2007, France-based Trelleborg Indusrtrie S.A.S. executives Christian Caleca and Jacques Cognard, pleaded guilty to U.S. charges for their roles in the conspiracy. They were each sentenced in December to 14 months in prison.
In September 2007, Francesco Scaglia and Val M. Northcutt, executives with Italian manufacturer Manuli Rubber Industries SpA, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale on charges related to the marine hose conspiracy. That case has been put on the federal court trial docket for May 2008.
'These continuing prosecutions in the marine hose conspiracy exemplify the division's resolve to hold accountable conspirators who seek to harm U.S. consumers,' said Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
German national charged here with bid rigging
