Agreed during those meetings and discussions not to compete for one another’s customers either by not submitting prices or bids to certain customers or by submitting intentionally high prices or bids to certain customers.Agreed during those meetings and discussions to a price list for marine hose in order to implement and monitor the conspiracy.Agreed during those meetings and discussions to allocate shares of the marine hose market among the conspirators.Attended meetings or otherwise engaged in discussions in the United States and elsewhere by telephone, facsimile and electronic mail regarding the sale of marine hose.The Department charged that during the conspiracy Hioki and his co-conspirators: In both counts, Hioki was charged with participating in the conspiracies from at least in or around January 2004 through in or around May 2007. During the conspiracy, the cartel affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products worldwide. Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. "Prosecuting international cartels that harm United States consumers remains the number one priority of the Antitrust Division." Garza, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division. "The Antitrust Division is committed to rooting out corruption that harms American consumers and the competitive process, whether the criminal conduct takes place here in the United States or overseas," said Deborah A. Hioki agreed to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust and FCPA investigations. He is the first individual to plead guilty in the FCPA conspiracy. Hioki is the ninth individual to plead guilty in the marine hose bid-rigging investigation. Hioki was charged for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of marine hose in the United States and elsewhere and also for his role in a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by making corrupt payments to government officials in Latin America and elsewhere to obtain and retain business. Misao Hioki, the former general manager of his company’s International Engineered Products (IEP) Department, pleaded guilty today to charges contained in a two-count felony charge that was filed on Dec. WASHINGTON - A Tokyo executive of a rubber products manufacturing company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve two years in jail and to pay an $80,000 criminal fine for participating in two conspiracies to rig bids and bribe foreign government officials affecting the sale of marine hose and other industrial rubber products manufactured by the company and sold throughout the world, the Department of Justice announced today. AT (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888 Japanese Executive Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to Two Years in Jail for Participating in Conspiracies to Rig Bids and Bribe Foreign Officials to Purchase Marine Hose and Related Products