Paving Company President Rigged Bids For MI State Contracts: Authorities

MICHIGAN — The former president of a Michigan asphalt paving company pleaded guilty Monday in connection with his role in a conspiracy to rig bids for state contracts, according to authorities.

Daniel Israel, along with others working for the company where Israel was president, conspired with another paving company and its employees to rig bids in each other’s favor, authorities said.

The conspiracy began at least as early as March 2013 and continued until at least November 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The co-conspirators coordinated bid prices so that the agreed-upon loser would submit bids that were intentionally non-competitive, authorities said, giving the false impression of competition when the contractors had already decided who would win.

Israel pleaded guilty to one count of violating Section One of the Sherman Act, according to the department, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine.

He is the third person to plead guilty in an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the asphalt paving services industry, authorities said. Over a two-week span in August, a company and two of its executives also pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation, according to the department.

Anyone with information related to the investigation is asked to call at 888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations, authorities said.