MICHAEL L. SCOTT (State Bar No. 165452)	Filed August 10, 2005

JEANE M. HAMILTON (State Bar No. 157834)

SIDNEY A. MAJALYA (State Bar No. 205047)

Antitrust Division

U.S. Department of Justice

450 Golden Gate Avenue

Box 36046, Room 10-0101

San Francisco, CA 94102

Telephone: (415) 436-6660

Attorneys for the United States

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA	)

)	No. CR 05 00519 PJH

)

v.	)	INDICTMENT

)

)	VIOLATION:

GUNTER MONN	)	Title 15, United States Code,

)	Section 1 (Price Fixing)

Defendant.	)

____________________________________)	San Francisco Venue

The Grand Jury charges as follows:

I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE OFFENSE

1.	GUNTER MONN is hereby indicted and made a defendant on the charge stated below.
2.	Beginning in or about 1995 and continuing into 2001, the exact dates being unknown to the Grand Jury, coconspirators of the defendant entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of rubber chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere. The defendant joined the conspiracy in or about January 1997. The combination and conspiracy engaged in by the defendant and his coconspirators was an unreasonable restraint of interstate and foreign trade and commerce in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1).

3.	The charged combination and conspiracy consisted of a continuing agreement, understanding, and concert of action among the defendant and his coconspirators, the substantial terms of which were to agree to fix and maintain prices and to coordinate price increases for rubber chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere.

II.

MEANS AND METHODS OF THE CONSPIRACY

4.	For the purpose of forming and carrying out the charged combination and conspiracy, the defendant and his coconspirators did those things that they combined and conspired to do, including, among other things:

(a)	attending and participating in meetings among major rubber chemical producers to discuss the prices of rubber chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere;

(b)	agreeing during those meetings and discussions to increase prices of rubber chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere;

(c)	issuing price announcements and price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached;

(d)	causing rubber chemicals prices to certain customers to be raised or maintained in the United States and elsewhere;

(e)	accepting payment for the supply of rubber chemicals sold at collusive, noncompetitive prices to certain customers in the United States and elsewhere;

(f)	participating in meetings and discussions to discuss the prices of rubber chemicals sold by each corporate conspirator in the United States and elsewhere for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the price agreements;

(g)	attempting to conceal the conspiracy and conspiratorial contacts through various means, including agreeing at the meetings to stagger the order and the timing of

price announcements to the public.

III.

DEFENDANT AND COCONSPIRATORS

5.	Defendant GUNTER MONN is a resident and citizen of German. During part of the period covered by this Indictment, defendant GUNTER MONN was the Head of Marketing for Rubber Products at Bayer AG ("Bayer"). During the period covered by this Indictment, Bayer was a German company that engaged in the business of producing rubber chemicals and selling rubber chemicals to customers in the United States and elsewhere.

6.	Various corporations and individuals, not made defendants in this Indictment, participated as coconspirators in the offense charged in this Indictment and performed acts and made statements in furtherance of it.

7.	Whenever in this Indictment reference is made to any act, deed, or transaction of any corporation, the allegation means that the corporation engaged in the act, deed, or transaction by or through its officers, directors, employees, agents, or other representatives while they were actively engaged in the management, direction, control, or transaction of its business or affairs.

IV.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

8.	Rubber Chemicals are a group of additives used during the processing of rubber to improve the elasticity, strength, and durability of a variety of rubber products, including automotive tires, hoses and belts, wire and cable insulation, and footwear. Rubber chemicals include accelerators, antidegradants, and antioxidants.

9.	During the period covered by this Indictment, the defendant and his coconspirators sold and distributed rubber chemicals, and caused the sale and distribution of rubber chemicals, in a continuous and uninterrupted flow of interstate and foreign trade and commerce to customers located in states or countries other than the states or countries in which the defendants and their coconspirators produced rubber chemicals. In addition, quantities of rubber chemicals as well as payments for rubber chemicals traveled in interstate and foreign commerce.

10.	The business activities of the defendant and his coconspirators that are the subject of this Indictment were within the flow of, and substantially affected, interstate and foreign trade and

commerce.

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V.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

11.	The combination and conspiracy charged in this Indictment was carried out, in part, in the Northern District of California within the five years preceding the return of this Indictment.

ALL IN VIOLATION OF TITLE 15, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 1.

A TRUE BILL

Dated: Aug. 10, 2005

___/s/ Grand Jury Foreperson________

FOREPERSON

________/s/______________________	__________/s/___________________

Thomas O. Barnett	Phillip H. Warren

Acting Assistant Attorney General	Chief, San Francisco Office

________/s/______________________	__________/s/___________________

Scott D. Hammond	Niall E. Lynch

Deputy Assistant Attorney General	Assistant Chief, San Francisco Office

________/s/______________________	__________/s/___________________

Marc Siegel	Michael L. Scott

Director of Criminal Enforcement	Jeane Hamilton

Sidney A. Majalya

United States Department of Justice	Attorneys

Antitrust Division

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.	United States Department of Justice

Washington, D.C. 20530	Antitrust Division

450 Golden Gate Avenue

Box 36046, Room 10-0101

__/s/ Eumi L. Choi for_______________	San Francisco, CA 94102

Kevin V. Ryan	(415)436-6660

United States Attorney

Northern District of California