FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1996 (202) 616-2771
TDD (202) 514-1888
OHIO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY MANAGER CHARGED WITH BID RIGGING
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice charged a Toledo, Ohio, construction company
manager today with conspiring to rig bids on construction and repair contracts involving heat
resistant materials, such as brick and concrete, used to line furnaces and boilers. The
so-called refractory linings are purchased by refineries, auto manufacturers, and chemical
and utility companies.
In a one-count felony charge filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo, Ohio, the Department's
Antitrust Division charged Loren Angel, a former branch manager for Northern Refractories and
Insulation Co., with conspiring to rig bids on refractory lining construction and repair contracts
from January 1993 through December 1995.
According to the charge, Angel conspired with others to suppress and eliminate competition for
refractory lining construction contracts. Angel and others carried out the conspiracy by discussing
their prospective bids with one another
before those bids were submitted to the project owners or general contractors.
Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, and
Emily M. Sweeney, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said the charge
resulted from an ongoing investigation of bid rigging and related violations in the refractory
lining construction industry.
The case was filed by the Antitrust Division's Philadelphia Field Office with the assistance of
the Toledo branch office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a violation of the Sherman Act is three years
in prison and the greatest of $350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from the
crime or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.
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