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October 4, 2010 -
Six international freight forwarders have agreed to plead guilty and to
pay criminal fines totaling $50.27 million for their roles in several
conspiracies to fix a variety of fees and charges in connection with the
provision of freight forwarding services for international air cargo
shipments. These are the first charges filed as a result of the
department’s antitrust investigation of the freight forwarding industry.
According to
charges filed separately on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the |
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The six companies
are EGL Inc., (Houston-based) Kühne Nagel International AG, (
Under the plea
agreements, which are subject to court approval, the six companies have
agreed to pay the following criminal fines: EGL, $4,486,120; K+N,
$9,865,044; Geologistics, $687,960; Panalpina, $11,947,845; Schenker,
$3,535,514; and BAX Global, $19,745,927. Each company has also agreed to
cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
Freight forwarders
manage the domestic and international delivery of cargo for customers by
receiving, packaging, preparing and warehousing cargo freight, arranging
for cargo shipment through transportation providers such as air carriers
and steamship lines, preparing shipment documentation, and providing
related ancillary services.
“The department’s
investigation uncovered six different conspiracies harming businesses
and consumers in the |
According to the
charges, the companies carried out the various conspiracies by, among
other things, agreeing during meetings and discussions to coordinate
various charges and fees on customers purchasing international freight
forwarding services for cargo freight destined for air shipment to the
- A global
conspiracy that took place from March 2003 to October 2007, to impose an
Air Automated Manifest System (AAMS) fee on international air shipments
of cargo to the
- A conspiracy
that took place from July 2004 to October 2007, to impose an AAMS fee on
shipments from
- A conspiracy
that took place from March 2004 to October 2007, to impose an AAMS fee
on shipments from
- A conspiracy
that took place from October 2002 to October 2007, to impose a New
Export System (NES) fee on international air shipments from the
- A conspiracy
that took place from July 2005 to June 2006, to impose a Currency
Adjustment Factor (CAF) on international air shipments from China to the
United States, in which K+N, Panalpina, Schenker, BAX and others
participated; and
- A conspiracy
that took place from August 2005 to December 2007, to impose a Peak
Season Surcharge (PSS) on shipments from Hong Kong to the United States,
in which K+N, Panalpina, Schenker, BAX and others participated.
Each company is
charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries
a maximum fine of $100 million per offense for corporations. The maximum
fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice
the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those
amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine. |
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