A two-count criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Houston against Bridgestone, a Tokyo-headquartered manufacturer of marine hose and other industrial products, charged the company with conspiring to violate the Sherman Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to the court document, Bridgestone conspired to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of marine hose in the United States and elsewhere and, separately, conspired to make corrupt payments to government officials in various Latin American countries to obtain and retain business. The department said Bridgestone participated in the conspiracies from as early as January 1999, and continuing until as late as May 2007.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Bridgestone has also agreed to cooperate fully in the department’s ongoing investigations.

Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. During the bid rigging conspiracy, according to the court document, the cartel affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products sold worldwide.

According to the antitrust charge, Bridgestone and its co-conspirators agreed to allocate shares of the marine hose market and to use a price list for marine hose in order to implement the conspiracy. Bridgestone and its co-conspirators agreed not to compete for one another’s customers either by not submitting prices or bids, or by submitting intentionally high prices or bids to certain customers. As part of the conspiracy, Bridgestone and its co-conspirators provided information received from customers in the United States and elsewhere about upcoming marine hose jobs to a co-conspirator who served as the coordinator of the conspiracy. Bridgestone received marine hose prices for customers in the United States and elsewhere from the coordinator of the conspiracy and then sold the marine hose to those customers at collusive and noncompetitive prices and then concealed the conspiracy through various means, including code names, private email accounts and telephone numbers.

The department also charged that, in order to secure sales of marine hose in Latin America, Bridgestone authorized and approved corrupt payments to foreign government officials employed at state-owned entities. Bridgestone’s local sales agents agreed to pay employees of state-owned customers a percentage of the total value of proposed sales. When Bridgestone secured a sale, it would pay the local sales agent a “commission” consisting of not only the local sales agent’s actual commission but also the corrupt payments to be made to employees of the state-owned customer. The local sales agent then was responsible for passing the agreed-upon corrupt payment to the employees of the customer.

Bridgestone is the fifth company to be charged in the Antitrust Division’s bid rigging investigation. To date, nine individuals have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 4,557 days in prison for their involvement in the marine hose conspiracy, including Misao Hioki, the former general manager of Bridgestone’s international engineered products department, who was sentenced to two years in prison on Dec. 10, 2008. Hioki also pleaded guilty and was sentenced for his role in the FCPA conspiracy.

Bridgestone is charged with conspiring to violate the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum $100 million criminal fine for corporations. Bridgestone is also charged with conspiring to violate the FCPA, which carries a maximum $500,000 fine for corporations. The maximum fine for each count 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.

Under the plea agreement, the department recognized Bridgestone’s cooperation with the investigations, including conducting a worldwide internal investigation, voluntarily making employees available for interviews, and collecting, analyzing and providing to the department voluminous evidence and information. In addition, the plea agreement acknowledges Bridgestone’s extensive remediation, including restructuring the relevant part of its business, terminating many of its third-party agents and taking remedial actions with respect to employees responsible for many of the corrupt payments. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Bridgestone has committed to continuing to enhance its compliance program and internal controls. As a result of these mitigating factors, the department agreed to recommend a substantially reduced fine.

This case is being prosecuted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. In addition to the Antitrust and Criminal Divisions, the ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) of the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI. Law enforcement agencies from multiple foreign jurisdictions are also investigating or assisting in the ongoing matter.

Source: Department of Justice

Net News Publisher for American News

The Bridgestone Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most anticipated musical events of the year. More than 151 million viewers in the U.S. watched last year’s show. The Super Bowl and halftime show will be broadcast worldwide in more than 230 countries and territories.

Many of the classic songs the band will perform are just a few of those included on Greatest Hits (Geffen/UMe), released December 22, 2009. The largest single-disc “best of” collection from The Who in more than ten years, it is the first to span the group’s entire recording career to date, from 1964 to 2006. The 19-selection Greatest Hits brings together some of rock’s most important, influential and incandescent touchstones, along with an essay by renowned music critic Dave Marsh.

The Who stands alone in rock music. The most explosive live act ever to appear on stage, propelled by the most staggeringly brilliant rhythm section in all popular music, layered with deafening power chords and thunderous vocal fury, The Who transcended its original billing as “Maximum R&B” to become the most musically inventive and structurally innovative band of all time. Together, the four divergent personalities of The Who produced a hurricane. Each of them was a pioneer. Wildman drummer Keith Moon beat his kit with a chaotic elegance; stoic bassist John Entwistle held down the center with the melodic virtuosity of a solo guitarist; raging intellectual Pete Townshend punctuated the epic universality of his songs with the windmill slamming of his fingers across his guitar strings; and Roger Daltrey roared above it all with an impossibly virile macho swagger. They exploded conventional rhythm and blues structures, challenged pop music conventions, and redefined what was possible on stage, in the recording studio, and on vinyl. Never before or since has spiritual and intellectual brilliance sounded so gloriously furious.

Alone among the great bands, The Who has found itself at the center of every major rock event– Monterey, Woodstock, the Isle of Wight, the Concert for Kampuchea, Live Aid, the Concert for NYC. In any era, The Who is a touchstone for rock and roll greatness. They have sold over 100 million albums and won every award including Grammys/Brit Awards/Lifetime Achievement. They have been inducted into both the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and UK Music Hall of Fame. Their charitable work is legendary with millions of dollars raised over the years for a variety of causes. This work was recognized by the award of a CBE to Roger Daltrey in 2005.

Source: Universal Music Enterprises

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