us department of justice antitrust case brief - 02170-224255
TRANSCRIPT
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COU RTNORTH ERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DNISIO N
UNITED STAT ES OF AMERICA 1) Criminal No.:
v. )) Violation : 18 U.S.C. 371 .
TODD M . MAR.KEY, 1Defendant. ) JUDGE O'MALLEY--:-
INFORMATION
M A G . I r l n ~ ~~ H A ~ ~ &The United States of Am erica, acting through its attorneys, charges:CONSPIRACY
(18 U.S.C.4
371)
1. Todd M . Mark ey is hereby made a defendant on the charge stated below.
I. DEFENDANTAN D CO-CONSPIRATORS
At all times material to this Info rmation:
2. Defendant Markey was chief operating officer of a company in the business of
manufacturing and selling slats for window blinds. Slats are the louvers of window blinds that
can be adjusted to let in more or less light. The Defendant's employer sold slats to fabricators
and others. A fab ricator mak es slats into complete window blind units.
3. Co-con spirator Mario Cadorette was presiden t of the com pany Defendant was
employed by, and th e Defend ant reported to him.
4 . Various indiv iduals and companies, not m ade defendan ts in this Information,
participated as co-conspirators in the offense charged in th is Information and performed acts and
made statemen ts in furtherance of it.
5 . Whenever in this Information reference is m ade to any act, deed, or transaction of
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any corporation, the allegation means that the corporation engaged in the act, deed, or transaction
by or through its officers, directors, agents, employees, or other representatives while they were
actively engaged in the management, direction, control, or transaction of its business or affairs.
II. THE CONSPIRACY AND ITS OBJECTS
6 . From April 2002 to on or about July 9,2002, the exact dates being unknown to
the United States, in the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Ohio and elsewhere, the
Defendant did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with others to commit the
following offense against the United States, namely, having knowingly devised and intending to
devise a scheme and artifice to defraud as to a material matter, and for obtaining money and
property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises,
and for the purpose of executing the scheme and artifice to defraud, transmitted and caused to be
transmitted writings, signals, and sounds, by means of wire communication in interstate and
foreign commerce, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.
III. MANNER AND MEANS OF THE CONSPIRACY
7 . It was a part of the conspiracy that the Defendant and co-conspirators would and
did knowingly devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud slats customers of
money and the right to free and open competition in the pricing of slats by secretly fixing at
noncompetitive and collusive levels the prices charged for slats (hereinafter "price-fixing
scheme").
8. It was further a part of the conspiracy that the Defendant and co-conspirators
would and did participate in an international telephone conference call during which there was
discussion of the need to increase prices for slats and the need to obtain the agreement of the slats
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man ufacturers that were their com petitors to raise their prices.
9. It was further a part of the conspiracy that the Defendant and co-con spirators
would and did m ake and ag ree on assignmen ts to contact specific comp etitors.
10 . It was further a part o f the conspiracy that the Defendant and co-conspirators
would and did cause th e placing of, and wo uld and did participate in, interstate telephone calls
with com petitors to con vince them to tak e part in the price-fixing scheme.
IV . OVERT ACTS
11. In furtherance of the co nspiracy and to effectuate the illegal objects thereof, the
Defendant and co-conspirators com mitted the following overt acts, among others, in the Northern
District of Ohio and elsewhere.
a. During an international conference call on or about April 22- 25,2002,
the Defendant and co-conspirators agreed on a price-fixing schem e whereby they would secretly
convince com petitors to increase slats prices by eight percent.
b. During that conference call, with co-conspirator Mario Cado rette taking
the lead, the Defendant and co-conspirators agreed to contact their competitors to convince them
to take part in the price-fixing sch eme.
c. During that conference call, co-conspirator Mario Cadorette gave
assignm ents to contact specific competitors, which were agreed upon by the Defendant and
co-conspirators.
d. Beginning shortly after that conference call, the D efendant and
co-conspirators made a series of contacts with their com petitors, including interstate telephone
calls, to co nvince them to take part in the price-fixing scheme.
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V. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
12. The conspiracy charged in his Information was carried out, in part,
within the Northern District of Ohio within the five years preceding the filing of this Information,
excluding the period during which the statute of limitations has been suspended pursuant to the
two attached agreements with the Defendant, each titled "Agreement Between The United States
of America md Todd M. Markey Regarding Statute of Limitations" (Attachments 1 and 2). In
furtherance. of the conspiracy, interstate calls were made between a location in Houston, Texas
anda location witbin this district within the five years preceding the filing of the Information,
excluding the period during which the statute of limitations has been suspended pursuamt to the
attached agreements with the Defendant.
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All in violation of Title 18, United S tates Code, Section 371.
DATED: 7
Assistant Attorney General Chief, Cleveland Office
I.-
SCOTT D. HAMM ONDDeputy Assistant Attorney G eneral
MARC SIEGELDirector of Crimin al Enforcem entAntitrust D ivisionU.S. Department of Justice
Northern District of Ohio
DONALD M. LYON /(19207-WA)
Attorneys, Antitrust D ivisionU.S. Department of JusticeCarl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse801 W. Superior Ave., 1 4 '~loorCleveland, OH 441 13-1857
Tel: (216) 687-8446Fax: (216) 687-843 2E-mail: william.oberdick@usdoi aov
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03/02:07 ION 15:33 FAX 218 928 1007 ROT.
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.-- BY:
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Caunrd for Todd bI. E S Q . ~ I ; I ~ ~ ~ X ~
Attorneys, Antitnut DivleicrfiU.S. DepJJlmtnt af usticeCarl B. tokes U.S Cotd,~House801 W Superjor Ate , , idch l w rClevelanc, Ohio 4-4113-1857Telep'n~n~: 2 16) 687-8446
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