WASHINGTON (May 3) — Eight executives from Japan, Italy, France and the United Kingdom have been arrested in the U.S. and charged with conspiring to rig bids, fix prices and allocate markets in the U.S. for marine hose used to transport oil, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The May 2 arrests include executives who work for Trelleborg Industries S.A. of France, Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. of the United Kingdom, Parker ITR S.L.R. of Italy, Manuli Rubber Industries S.p.A. of Italy; and Bridgestone Corp. of Japan.
The criminal complaint was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Miami against Jacques Cognard, oil and marine manager of Trelleborg Industries; Bryan Allison, managing director, and David Brammar, sales and marketing director, of Dunlop Oil & Marine; and Peter Whittle, owner of the United Kingdom consulting firm PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd.
The Justice Department said a separate criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., against Christian Caleca, president of the Industrial Hose Business Unit of Trelleborg Industries; Vanni Scodeggio, a business unit manger of Parker ITR; Francesco Scaglia, product manger at Manuli; and Misao Hioki, an executive involved in the sale of marine hose for Bridgestone.
The executives are charged with participating in a conspiracy that occurred at various times from at least 1999 to the present.
While the arrests were being made in San Francisco and Houston, competition authorities in the United Kingdom and European Commission executed search warrants in Europe, the Justice Department said.