Information

1. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (hereinafter Tokai Carbon), a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Japan, is made a defendant on the charge stated below.
2. Beginning at least as early as July 1992 and continuing until at least June 1997, the exact dates being unknown to the United States, the defendant and co-conspirators entered into and participated in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the price and allocating the volume of graphite electrodes sold in the United States and elsewhere. The combination and conspiracy engaged in by the defendant and co-conspirators 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 co-conspirators, the substantial terms of which were:
   1. to agree to fix and maintain prices and to coordinate price increases for the sale of graphite electrodes in the United States and elsewhere; and
   2. to agree to allocate among the corporate conspirators the volume of sales of graphite electrodes in the United States and elsewhere.
4. For the purpose of forming and carrying out the charged combination and conspiracy, the defendant and co-conspirators did those things that they combined and conspired to do, including, among other things:
   1. participating in meetings and conversations in the Far East, Europe, and the United States to discuss the prices and volume of graphite electrodes sold in the United States and elsewhere;
   2. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to charge prices at certain levels and otherwise to increase and maintain prices of graphite electrodes sold in the United States and elsewhere;
   3. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to eliminate discounts from the fixed price of graphite electrodes offered to customers in the United States and elsewhere;
   4. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to allocate among the corporate conspirators the approximate volume of graphite electrodes to be sold by each corporate conspirator in the United States and elsewhere;
   5. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to divide the world market among themselves and to designate on a region-by-region basis, including the United States, the conspirator who would fix the price that others would follow in that region;
   6. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to restrict graphite electrode producing capacity among the corporate conspirators;
   7. agreeing, during those meetings and conversations, to restrict non-conspirator companies' access to certain graphite electrode manufacturing technology;
   8. discussing, during those meetings and conversations, methods to conceal the agreement, including the use of code names by the corporate conspirators;
   9. exchanging sales and customer information for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the above-described agreement; and
   10. issuing price announcements and price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached.

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