In the DPA, Argos confessed to being involved in the alleged conspiracy, when it took over the assets of a ready-mix concrete supplier in the Southern District of Georgia and hired Gregory Melton and James Pedrick, until July 2016.
Gregory and David Melton were found guilty by a jury yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Savannah, Georgia, for their involvement in a scheme to manipulate prices, rig bids, and divide markets for the sale of ready-mix concrete in Georgia and South Carolina.
The conspiracy, which started as far back as 2010 and lasted until around July 2016, included sending coordinated price-increase letters to customers, assigning specific projects in the coastal Georgia region, and submitting bids to customers at artificially inflated and noncompetitive prices.
With yesterday's decisions, this investigation led to five criminal convictions and one postponed prosecution agreement. James Pedrick, Timothy Strickland, and Strickland's firm, Evans LLC, had already confessed to being part of the same scheme. Additionally, Pedrick's ex-employer, Argos USA LLC, had previously reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Antitrust Division, acknowledging its involvement in the conspiracy and accepting a $20 million criminal fine.
“Today’s guilty verdicts reflect the Antitrust Division’s commitment to holding individuals accountable for cheating American consumers out of the opportunity to purchase necessary building materials free of corruption and collusion. The division and its law enforcement partners will continue to prioritize their work prosecuting individuals responsible for this illegal and unethical conduct,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Argos has committed to upholding a compliance and ethics program as outlined in the deferred prosecution agreement. This program is aimed at identifying and preventing antitrust violations, meeting specific requirements set forth in the DPA.
Additionally, Argos will regularly review its practices and provide annual reports to the division on the progress of its compliance program. A joint motion will be submitted by both parties, pending court approval, to postpone any legal action against Argos for the duration of the DPA.
Ready-mix concrete consists of cement, aggregate (sand and gravel), water, and sometimes additional additives. It is produced as needed and can be transported to construction sites by concrete mixer trucks. This product is bought by both individual and commercial customers, as well as local, state, and federal authorities, for a wide range of construction projects such as sidewalks, driveways, bridges, tunnels, and roads.
“Customers expect to receive fair value for construction materials – not to enrich unscrupulous vendors who collude to unfairly increase their profits,” said U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg for the Southern District of Georgia. “This verdict makes it clear that our office and law enforcement partners will hold accountable those who violate the law to pad their bottom line.”
“Bid rigging and fraud schemes are serious criminal actions that adversely impact the competitive contracting marketplace,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph Harris of the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG), Southern Region. “Today’s conviction should serve to deter individuals and companies from engaging in deceptive practices that violate federal regulations and the public’s trust.”
In the DPA, Argos confessed to being involved in the alleged conspiracy, when it took over the assets of a ready-mix concrete supplier in the Southern District of Georgia and hired Gregory Melton and James Pedrick, until July 2016. Melton served as the division manager of ready-mix concrete sales for Argos’ local sales office in Pooler, Georgia, while Pedrick worked as a cement salesperson, selling cement to ready-mix concrete suppliers.
Argos is the second entity implicated in this case. A grand jury returned an indictment in September 2020 in the U.S. District Court in Savannah, accusing Evans Concrete LLC; John David Melton; Timothy Tommy Strickland; as well as former Argos workers James Clayton Pedrick and Gregory Hall Melton of involvement in the same scheme.
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