Free Motion for Miscellaneous Relief - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:03-cv-00409-DJS

Document 41-2

Filed 12/15/2004

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10/6/04 WSJ A10

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10/6/04 Wall St. J. A10 2004 WL-WSJ 56942827 The Wall Street Journal (Copyright (c) 2004, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) Wednesday, October 6, 2004 Stolt Continued Known Cartel, According to Filing By Laura Johannes Even after shipping concern Stolt-Nielsen SA received an internal warning that the company was illegally cooperating with competitors to keep prices high, a highranking Stolt executive met twice with rival Odfjell ASA and promised that the arrangement would continue, according to a recently filed declaration in a civil case. In one of the biggest international antitrust probes in recent years, Stolt and Odfjell have admitted to participating in an illicit global cartel that coordinated bids to control prices for deep-sea chemicals shipping. The Sept. 21 declaration by Odfjell Vice President Erik Nilsen -- an admitted participant in the scheme -- provides a detailed view of the scandal. According to people familiar with the document, it includes fresh information about the origins of the cartel in 1998, and of Stolt's disregard of the internal warning, which came in early 2002 from its then-general counsel, Paul O'Brien. The account by Mr. Nilsen, whose current job status isn't clear, also could help explain why the U.S. Justice Department took the step earlier this year of revoking a conditional amnesty it had granted to Stolt in exchange for cooperating with government investigators. The amnesty was conditional on Stolt having promptly ended the illegal activity after it learned about it. The U.S. government has said it originally believed that the shipping cartel ended in March 2002, not long after Mr. O'Brien's warning. But Mr. Nilsen's declaration says Stolt continued the anticompetitive practices for an additional eight months. The matter of Stolt's amnesty is being closely watched by antitrust lawyers because it is the only known example in which amnesty -- which has been used broadly by prosecutors to net antitrust convictions -- has been withdrawn. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Stolt-Nielsen is registered in Luxembourg with headquarters in London. Top transportation executives occupy the company's Greenwich, Conn., office. Odfjell is based in Bergen, Norway. Mr. Nilsen's declaration was filed in state Superior Court in Stamford, Conn., as part of a civil suit in which Mr. O'Brien is seeking damages against Stolt. The document is unavailable to the public pending a ruling on a motion to seal it, but it was described to The Wall Street Journal by people who have seen it. Mr. Nilsen last year pleaded guilty to participating in the price-fixing conspiracy and was sentenced to three months in prison. He is cooperating with government investigators. A Stolt spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Nilsen's declaration, but said the company believes it remains entitled to the amnesty because it "voluntarily reported an antitrust conspiracy to the Justice Department." The company is attempting to win back the amnesty in court. Neither Mr. Nilsen's lawyer nor Odfjell attorney William J. Kolasky could be reached to comment. Mr. Nilsen's declaration after Mr. O'Brien warned people familiar with the Odfjell executive met at Copr. © details a his Stolt document. that time June 2002 meeting that took place four months superiors to halt the cartel, according to the Mr. Nilsen's declaration says he and another with Richard Wingfield, then an executive vice

2004 West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works.

Case 3:03-cv-00409-DJS
10/6/04 WSJ A10

Document 41-2

Filed 12/15/2004

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president of Stolt, to discuss the threat posed by Mr. O'Brien. The declaration says Mr. Wingfield assured Odfjell that Mr. O'Brien couldn't reveal the information to others due to attorney-client privilege and promised "it would be business as usual." Mr. Nilsen also alleges similar assurances were made by Mr. Wingfield at a March 2002 meeting that Mr. Nilsen didn't attend. Mr. Wingfield, suspended from his position at Stolt last year, declined to comment. His lawyer, Greg Curtner, said his client "disagrees" with Mr. Nilsen's description of events, but isn't "at liberty" to comment further. Mr. Wingfield has been charged criminally in the case but hasn't been indicted, Mr. Curtner said. In his declaration, say people familiar with the document, Mr. Nilsen also gives fresh details about the alleged origin of the cartel. At an August 1998 meeting that Mr. Nilsen attended, his declaration says, Stolt and Odfjell, two leaders in the global chemicals-shipping business, "agreed not to compete for certain of each other's customers." Among the participants in that early meeting, Mr. Nilsen claims in his declaration, was Samuel Cooperman, then chief executive of the Stolt shipping unit. Mr. Cooperman hadn't previously been linked to the origins of the price-fixing arrangement. Mr. Cooperman, who is now retired and serves as a part-time consultant to Stolt, didn't return calls seeking comment. At the 1998 meeting, Mr. Nilsen's declaration alleges, lists of customers were exchanged to facilitate the noncompete agreement. He also relates in the declaration that the agreement was carried out by not submitting bids for each other's shipping contracts, or by submitting intentionally high bids to each other's listed customers. In his suit, filed in 2002, Mr. O'Brien, the former general counsel, alleges that he had to resign -- or otherwise face legal liability -- after Stolt refused to conduct an independent probe into his allegations of collusion and price fixing. ---- INDEX REFERENCES ---COMPANY: Stolt-Nielsen SA (STOTTS)

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2004 West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works.

Case 3:03-cv-00409-DJS
10/6/04 WSJ A10

Document 41-2

Filed 12/15/2004

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Word Count: 863 10/6/04 WSJ A10 END OF DOCUMENT

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2004 West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works.