WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- DuPont Dow Elastomers LLC will plead guilty and pay an $84 million fine for price-fixing of synthetic rubber, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
The synthetic rubber affected by the international conspiracy is used in a variety of products including tires, adhesives, coated fabrics, furniture and shoes, the department said.
Approximately $350 million of the rubber, polychloroprene, also known as chloroprene rubber, is sold annually in the United States.
DuPont Dow Elastomers sells polychloroprene rubber under its neoprene brand name.
The department said Wednesday's charge is the first in an ongoing investigation of price-fixing in the polychloroprene industry.
In a felony case filed in San Francisco, DuPont Dow Elastomers, a Delaware company formed in 1996 by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and The Dow Chemical Co., was charged with conspiring with its competitors to fix the price of polychloroprene rubber sold in the United States and elsewhere from August 1999 to April 2002.
Under the plea agreement, DuPont Dow Elastomers agreed to assist the government in its ongoing polychloroprene rubber investigation.
