More Charges Laid Against Marine Hose Cartel Participants

According to the US Department of Justice, charges were laid against an independent consultant and two executives from Grimsby based Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. on December 5. A one-count felony charge, resulting from the international marine hose price fixing cartel that operated until May 2007, was filed against: Peter Whittle, sole proprietor of PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd., Bryan Allison, managing director of Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd., and David Brammar, Dunlop’s Oil & Marine’s sales and marketing director.

The latest charges come less than a month after two Trelleborg executives pled guilty to price fixing charges, and the Department of Justice is continuing to give the case its full attention. “Breaking up international cartels that harm US consumers and businesses continues to be the Antitrust Division’s top law enforcement priority,” said Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s Antitrust Division. “The Division will continue to work closely with our antitrust colleagues abroad in order to stop individuals from engaging in price fixing and bid rigging.”

Whittle, Allison and Brammar are charged with participating in the conspiracy between 1999 and their arrest in May 2007. The three men were amongst eight overseas executives arrested in Houston on May 2, 2007 following a meeting of their so-called cartel. All three have been charged with a violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of US$1 million for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.