FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1996 (202) 616-2771
TDD (202) 514-1888
HOUSTON EXECUTIVE CHARGED WITH FIXING PRICES
ON INSULATION FOR METAL BUILDINGS
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Houston insulation company
executive was charged today by the Department of Justice with
fixing prices on insulation for metal buildings sold to customers
in Texas and Louisiana.
This is the Department's fourth case as a result of an
ongoing nationwide antitrust investigation into suspected price
fixing in the metal building insulation industry. Insulation for
use in metal buildings is made of fiberglass coated with aluminum
or plastic.
The Department's Antitrust Division filed a criminal
felony charge in U.S. District Court in Houston today against Yun
Lung Yueh, also known as Peter Yueh. Yueh is Executive Vice
President of Hiplax International Corp., a Houston insulation
company, which does business as Brite Insulation.
The case charged that Yueh conspired with others, from
January 1994 through June 1995, to raise, fix, and maintain
prices for the sale of insulation sold to metal building
customers in Texas and Louisiana in violation of the Sherman Act.
On September 30 of this year, Hiplax International and
the company's Vice President of Sales, Jerrold Warren
Killingsworth were also charged for their role in the same price
fixing conspiracy. Hiplax and Killingsworth will be arraigned on
October 29 in federal district court in Houston.
Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division, said that the investigation is being
conducted by the Antitrust Division's Dallas Field Office with
the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Houston
Office.
The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under
the Sherman Act is three years in prison and a fine 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,
whichever is greater.
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