Norwegian transport firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS (WWL) has agreed to plead responsible and pay a $98.9 million felony nice for its involvement in a conspiracy to repair costs of worldwide ocean shipments of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the Port of Baltimore and different areas within the United States, the Department of Justice introduced Wednesday.

According to the one-count felony cost filed this week within the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, WWL conspired with different roll-on, roll-off ocean transport traces from a minimum of February 2000 till a minimum of September 2012 to repair costs, rig bids, and allocate clients. Roll-on, roll-off cargo is non-containerized cargo that may be rolled onto and off of an ocean-going vessel.

“WWL and its co-conspirators cheated their customers for years by fixing the prices of ocean shipping services for cars, trucks, and other cargo essential to our nation’s economy,” stated Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata B. Hesse, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division, working together with our law enforcement colleagues, will continue to hold the ocean shipping companies and executives who perpetrated this scheme accountable for their crimes.”

“These charges brought today, and for the prior eight executives charged, outline a deceptive scheme to destabilize competition in the marketplace,” stated Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Baltimore Division. “Those who engage in this type of criminal activity with the intent on corrupting our economy will be identified and brought to justice. To ensure we don’t erode the public’s trust in the competitive bidding process, the FBI will continue to work with the Antitrust Division to ensure the integrity of competition across all industries.”

WWL is the fourth firm to comply with plead responsible within the investigation, which has resulted in over $230 million in agreed-upon fines. In addition, eight executives have been charged for his or her participation within the conspiracy. Four have already pleaded responsible and been sentenced to jail phrases. The different 4 executives have been indicted, however stay fugitives from justice.

In addition to paying its nice, WWL has agreed to cooperate with the division’s ongoing antitrust investigation. The plea settlement is topic to court docket approval.

The cost towards WWL is the results of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into value fixing, bid rigging and different anticompetitive conduct within the worldwide roll-on, roll-off ocean transport business.