Jerry P. Watson, the former president of Commercial Carpet Consultants Inc., a Chicago-based commercial flooring contractor, has been charged with a long-running conspiracy to rig bids and fix pricing for commercial flooring products and services.
Commercial Carpet Consultants Inc. agreed to pay a $1.2 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. It is the fourth company to be named as a suspect in the ongoing probe. Jerry P. Watson, the sixth person to plead guilty in the inquiry, has also entered a guilty plea.
“The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners are committed to defending competition in the American economy,” said Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. “The government’s determination to prosecuting anticompetitive activity and holding firms and executives accountable is demonstrated by these latest guilty pleas in the investigation.”
“There is no place for illicit price-fixing in the American marketplace,” said FBI Chicago Field Division Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. “Anyone hoping to profit from market manipulation should be aware that we will continue to investigate illegal collaboration until justice is served.”
According to the one-count felony charge and plea agreements filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Illinois, the defendants conspired to suppress and eliminate competition in the commercial flooring market from at least 2009 until at least June 22, 2017, by agreeing with other companies and individuals to submit complementary bids so that the designated company would win the contract.
For corporations, a violation of the Sherman Act provides a statutory maximum punishment of $100 million in criminal fines. Individual violations of the Sherman Act are punishable by up to ten years in jail and a $1 million fine.
If either of those amounts is larger than the statutory maximum fine, the maximum fine can be increased to twice the gain received from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime. After considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory criteria, a federal district court judge will impose any sentence.
The allegations stem from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Chicago Field Division into bid rigging, price fixing, and other anticompetitive activities in the commercial flooring business.