MARC SIEGEL (CSBN 142071)	Filed September 20, 2004

DANA R. WAGNER (CSBN 209099)

Antitrust Division

U.S. Department of Justice

450 Golden Gate Avenue

Box 36046, Room 10-0101

San Francisco, CA 94102

Telephone: (415) 436-6660

Attorneys for the United States

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO VENUE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA	)	No. CR 04-0300 VRW

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v.	)	INFORMATION

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DEGUSSA U.K. HOLDINGS LTD.,	)	VIOLATION:

f/d/b/a LAPORTE PLC,	)	15 U.S.C. § 1 (Price-fixing)

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Defendant.	)

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The United States of America, acting through its attorneys, charges:

I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE OFFENSE

1.	DEGUSSA U.K. HOLDINGS LTD. ("DEGUSSA") is made a defendant on the

charge stated below.

2.	Beginning in or about August 1997 and continuing until in or about March 1998,

defendant DEGUSSA and its coconspirators entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of organic peroxides ("OP"), specifically t-butyl perbenzoate and t-butyl peracetate dedicated to styrene polymerization ("the Specified OP Products"), to be sold in the United States and elsewhere. The combination and conspiracy engaged in by the defendant and its coconspirators was in unreasonable restraint of interstate and foreign trade and commerce in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1).

3.	The charged combination and conspiracy consisted of a continuing agreement,

understanding, and concert of action among the defendant and its coconspirators, the substantial terms of which were to agree to fix and maintain prices and to coordinate price increases for the Specified OP Products to be sold in the United States and elsewhere.

4.	For the purpose of forming and carrying out the charged combination and

conspiracy, the defendant and its coconspirators did those things that they combined and conspired to do, including, among other things:

(a)	participating in meetings and conversations to discuss the prices of the Specified OP Products to be sold in the United States and elsewhere;

(b)	agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to charge prices at certain levels and otherwise to increase and maintain prices of the Specified OP Products to be sold in the United States and elsewhere; and

(c)	issuing price announcements and price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached.

II.

DEFENDANT AND COCONSPIRATORS

5.	DEGUSSA is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United

Kingdom. During the time period covered by this Information, DEGUSSA was engaged in the business of producing OP and selling it in the United States and elsewhere, and DEGUSSA had 200 or more employees in its business unit that produced and sold the Specified OP Products.

Individuals within the high-level personnel of that business unit participated in, condoned, and were willfully ignorant of offense.

6.	Various corporations and individuals, not made defendants in this Information,

participated as coconspirators in the offense charged in this Information and performed acts and made statements in furtherance of it.

7.	Whenever in this Information reference is made to any act, deed, or transaction of

any corporation, the allegation means that the corporation engaged in the act, deed, or transaction by or through its officers, directors, employees, agents, or other representatives while they were actively engaged in the management, direction, control, or transaction of its business affairs.

III.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

8.	The Specified OP Products are industrial chemicals used in the manufacture of

certain polystyrene products, including containers and packaging materials.

9.	During the time period covered by this Information, the defendant and its

coconspirators sold and distributed the Specified OP Products in a continuous and uninterrupted flow of interstate and foreign trade and commerce to customers located in states or countries other than the states or countries in which the defendant and its coconspirators produced the Specified OP Products.

10.	During the time period covered by this Information, the volume of commerce

attributable to DEGUSSA that was affected by the charged conspiracy was at least $2,831,231.

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11.	The business activities of the defendant and its coconspirators that are the subject

of this Information were within the flow of, and substantially affected, interstate and foreign trade and commerce.

ALL IN VIOLATION OF TITLE 15, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 1.

Dated: 9/20/2004

_________/s/_____________________	____________/s/__________________

R. Hewitt Pate	Phillip H. Warren

Assistant Attorney General	Chief, San Francisco Office

_________/s/_____________________	____________/s/__________________

James M. Griffin	Marc Siegel

Deputy Assistant Attorney General	Assistant Chief, San Francisco Office

_________/s/_____________________	____________/s/__________________

Scott D. Hammond	Dana R. Wagner

Director of Criminal Enforcement	Trial Attorney

United States Department of Justice	United States Department of Justice

Antitrust Division	Antitrust Division

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.	450 Golden Gate Avenue

Washington, DC 20530	Box 36036, Room 10-0101

San Francisco, CA 94102

________For_/s/_ELC_______________

Kevin V. Ryan

United States Attorney

Northern District of California