BASF Pleaded Guilty and Paid $225 Million for Participating in the International Vitamin Cartel

Summary

In September 1999, BASF AG pleaded guilty in the United States to participating in a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market shares for vitamins. The U.S. Department of Justice said the conspiracy ran from January 1990 until February 1999. Participants agreed to fix and raise prices, allocate sales volumes and market shares, divide contracts, and rig bids for vitamin premixes sold in the United States and elsewhere. BASF was sentenced to pay a $225 million criminal fine. At the time, the Justice Department described the vitamins case as one of the largest and most far-reaching international cartel prosecutions it had handled. Source: U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/1999/May/196at.htm U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press_releases/2000/4494.pdf