DOJ pursues unusual case of car shipping price-fixing and extortion

Federal antitrust and pack prosecutors indicted a twelve people, including a ringing person with alleged ties to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, connected charges of price-fixing, extortion and wealth laundering involving the shipment of utilized cars to Mexico, according to an indictment unsealed connected Monday.

The group, led by Carlos Favian Martinez, led a strategy to hole prices and illegally carve up concern betwixt competitors successful the marketplace for “transmigrante forwarding bureau services,” oregon the transporting of utilized cars from the U.S. done Mexico and onto Central America, according to the indictment. The defendants enforced their cognition done a signifier of unit and extortion that included beatings and kidnappings; respective radical were killed. None of the defendants were charged with those deaths.

Martinez is the son-in-law of an unnamed Gulf Cartel person successful Mexico, according to the indictment.

The lawsuit marks a uncommon departure for the Justice Department’s antitrust division, which is typically focused connected civilian investigations of mergers and different alleged anticompetitive conduct, arsenic good achromatic collar crimes involving collusion betwixt rival companies and executives.

The Justice Department’s organized transgression and pack conception besides investigated the case, on with the Houston U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Also notable is simply a transgression complaint involving a conspiracy to monopolize. Monopolization cases typically impact a azygous company, and they are commonly discussed successful the discourse of DOJ cases and investigations involving Google and Apple. Until the aboriginal 1980s, however, the section would regularly record transgression charges implicit monopolization. Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who heads the antitrust division, has said helium wants to revive charging specified cases arsenic a crime, and precocious secured a blameworthy plea from a roadworthy paving institution successful Montana.

The indictment unsealed Monday accused the 12 radical of wide-ranging unit utilized to unit rivals to enactment successful the price-fixing scheme, including shootouts, beatings and kidnappings.

When 1 woman, identified lone arsenic C.R., was undercutting the collusive agreements and not paying bribes, her household was threatened and 1 of her employees was kidnapped.

Martinez and others are successful custody pending a trial, portion immoderate defendants person been released connected bond, according to tribunal records.