Former Bayer AG exec will plead guilty to price-fixing scheme

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer
May 16, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- Former Bayer AG executive Wolfgang Koch will plead guilty to colluding in a price-fixing scheme that drove up the cost of rubber chemicals used to make tires, outdoor furniture and shoes in the United States during a three-year period, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The plea agreement announced Monday marks the latest development in a long-running antitrust investigation into an international price-rigging ring formed by some of the world's biggest rubber chemical manufacturers, including Crompton Corp. of Middlebury, Conn.

The probe, anchored in San Francisco by the Department of Justice, has revealed the dealings of competitors that secretly plotted to raise the prices of their rubber chemicals.