Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On July 28, 2008, Timothy Pfeil, a former executive for SAS Cargo Group A/S (“SAS”), pled guilty to serve six months in prison for his role in a worldwide conspiracy to fix air cargo rates for shipments to and from the United States. Mr. Pfeil, the second airline executive charged in this conspiracy, will cooperate…

On July 23, 2008, JMJ Environmental Inc. (“JMJ”), a wastewater treatment company, its owner, John Drimak Jr., and Norman Stoerr, a former contracts administrator, pled guilty to various counts of bid rigging, fraud, and tax evasion. These charges were all in connection with sub-contracts for wastewater treatment services at two Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) designated…

On July 11, 2008, James P. Robinson, a former Divisional Merchandising Manager for Flooring at Home Depot, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion related to a scheme to defraud Home Depot.Mr. Robinson participated in a conspiracy to defraud Home Depot by taking kickbacks from…

On July 3, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) entered into a settlement agreement allowing Signature Flight Support Corporation to acquire Hawker Beechcraft’s (“Hawker”) fixed based operations (“FBO”). The settlement agreement requires Signature to divest its flight support service assets.Signature and Hawker are the only FBOs at Indianapolis International Airport (“IND”). The DOJ requires either…

On July 1, 2008, the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division decided to allow External Compliance Officer Inc., a New Jersey based anti-money laundering consulting company, to create a database that would allow money transmitters to better understand the backgrounds of prospective agents. A money transmitter is a company that provides electronic money transfer services…

On July 1, 2008, Visa Inc. rescinded a rule that required merchants to treat Visa-branded debit cards differently when used as a PIN-debit card (and processed via non-Visa networks) from the same cards when used as signature debit cards and processed on the Visa network. The rule was rescinded in response to the Department of…

On June 30, 2008 Anthony M. Tesvich, a former employee of Home Depot, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of tax evasion, in connection with a scheme to defraud Home Depot.According to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the conspiracy took place from October 2002 to October 2007.…

On June 30, 2008, Joel M. Gostomelsky, the director of the Hines, IL Department of Veteran Affairs (“VA”) Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (“CMOP”) pled guilty to one count of conspiring to allow a subordinate to participate in decisions directly affecting the financial interests of the subordinate’s spouse and one count of accepting illegal gratuities. Between…

On June 26, 2008, five major international airlines including Socit Air France (Air France), Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (Cathay), Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines), Martinair Holland N.V. (Martinair), and SAS Cargo Group A/S (SAS) pled guilty and agreed to pay fines for their role in a major international conspiracy to fix prices…

On June 24, 2008, John Cockerham, a U.S. Army office, and his wife, Melissa Cockerham, of San Antonio pled guilty to charges of conspiracies to commit bribery and money laundering. Mr. Cockerham pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of money laundering. Mrs. Cockerham pled guilty to one count…