A former paving company president faces up to 10 years in prison as part of an ongoing DOJ crackdown on the asphalt industry.
After a series of guilty pleas related to a Michigan asphalt bid-rigging scheme were announced in August, a former executive of one of the participating companies has recently pled guilty.
Timothy Baugher, former president of Pontiac, Michigan-based Asphalt Specialists, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan with conspiring to rig bids in favor of his company and for F. Allied Construction Company based in Clarkston.
Baugher was part of a coordinated plan, along with other co-conspirators, to predetermine who would win paving contracts, with an agreed-upon losing company intentionally submitting noncompetitive bids. Baugher participated from July 2017 through May 2021.
He pled guilty to one count of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The U.S. Department of Justice said the fine could be doubled to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the victims’ loss if either is greater than the maximum fine.
Baugher’s former employer, Asphalt Specialists, and its former vice president, Bruce F. Israel, along with Taylor, Michigan-based Al’s Asphalt Paving Company Inc. and its president, Edward Swanson, pled guilty on January 30, 2024, to a similar scheme that ran from March 2013 through November 2018.
Asphalt Specialists was charged $6.5 million for its role in the conspiracy on August 15.
Al’s Asphalt also participated in a separate scheme with F. Allied Construction and its employees.
The DOJ says its investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the asphalt paving industry is ongoing.
After a series of guilty pleas related to a Michigan asphalt bid-rigging scheme were announced in August, a former executive of one of the participating companies has recently pled guilty.
Timothy Baugher, former president of Pontiac, Michigan-based Asphalt Specialists, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan with conspiring to rig bids in favor of his company and for F. Allied Construction Company based in Clarkston.
Baugher was part of a coordinated plan, along with other co-conspirators, to predetermine who would win paving contracts, with an agreed-upon losing company intentionally submitting noncompetitive bids. Baugher participated from July 2017 through May 2021.
He pled guilty to one count of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The U.S. Department of Justice said the fine could be doubled to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the victims’ loss if either is greater than the maximum fine.
Baugher’s former employer, Asphalt Specialists, and its former vice president, Bruce F. Israel, along with Taylor, Michigan-based Al’s Asphalt Paving Company Inc. and its president, Edward Swanson, pled guilty on January 30, 2024, to a similar scheme that ran from March 2013 through November 2018.
Asphalt Specialists was charged $6.5 million for its role in the conspiracy on August 15.
Al’s Asphalt also participated in a separate scheme with F. Allied Construction and its employees.
The DOJ says its investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the asphalt paving industry is ongoing.