Current and Former WWL Execs Accused of Price Fixing
Two former and one current executive of the shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS (WWL) have been indicted on charges of fixing the prices of some international ocean shipping, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Former executives Arild Iversen and Anders Boman were indicted in November 2016 along with current executive Kai Kraass, the department said. The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday.
Iversen is a former WWL chief executive, Boman was head of the Asian business for WWL and Kraass was Head of Commercial, Region Europe, according to the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
WWL and three other companies have pleaded guilty to price-fixing. WWL was sentenced to pay a fine of $98.9 million, the department said.
"The indictment unsealed today is yet another step in the Division's efforts to restore competition in the shipping industry," said acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in a statement. "WWL has pleaded guilty. Now we are working to ensure that its executives who conspired to suppress competition at the expense of American consumers will be held accountable."
Attempts to reach Iverson, Boman and Kraass for comment were unsuccessful.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz)
(Reporting by Diane Bartz)