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House of Lords: No Extradition to US for Price Fixing

By Hanno Kaiser

In the aftermath of the international Graphite Electrodes cartel, the US sought the extradition of former Morgan Crucible Co. Chief Executive Officer Ian Norris from the UK on the theory that price fixing is a criminal conspiracy to defraud (which is punishable both in the US and in the UK). The House of Lords disagreed. According to Bloomberg, Norris

won a ruling from the U.K.’s highest court that hinders attempts to extradite him for a trial in Pennsylvania. … The House of Lords today ruled he couldn’t be extradited on the antitrust claims because price-fixing wasn’t a crime in the U.K. at the time of the alleged misconduct. “Mere price fixing was not at any time” a criminal offense in the U.K. when the cartel operated, the House of Lords said.

That said:

While Norris doesn’t have to face U.S. antitrust charges, the Lords said he may be extradited over the obstruction of justice claim and sent the issue to a lower court for review.

Stay tuned, we might be in for a revival of the Alcoa and Hartford Fire debates. (These things seem to coincide with the ABA Spring Meeting.)

Technorati Tags: antitrust, extradition

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).