Juan Carlos Aponte Tolentino, Price-Fixing Conspiracy, Puerto Rico 2022

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Juan Carlos Aponte Tolentino Pleads Guilty to Price-Fixing Conspiracy

A former interim president of a steel distributor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty to conspiring with competitors to fix prices for sales of reinforcing bar, or rebar.

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in San Juan, Juan Carlos Aponte Tolentino, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was the interim president of a steel distributor in Puerto Rico. The company was one of the leading wholesale distributors of rebar in Puerto Rico.

Collectively, Aponte’s company and two other competitors controlled approximately 70% of the wholesale rebar market in the Commonwealth. Between 2015 and 2022, including the period of reconstruction following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, Aponte conspired with competing companies and individuals to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices for steel products, including rebar.

Among other communications, Aponte and his competitors exchanged WhatsApp chat messages in which they agreed on specific rebar prices, including price increases. For example, in December 2020 an executive at a competing company sent Aponte a chat message with the price of Turkish rebar, and Aponte responded, “The position is the following: Platform $33.95, 10 bundles $34.50, Fewer than 10 bundles: $34.95” before asking, “The question is are we on the same page?” The competing executive responded, “Yes, that is what I am doing.”

In the plea agreement filed today, Aponte admitted that more than $100 million in sales by his company were affected by the conspiracy. “In pleading guilty, this defendant admitted to fixing prices — for nearly a decade — on rebar, an essential part of the supply chain for the reconstruction of Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricanes,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Manish Kumar of the Antitrust Division.

The court set Aponte’s sentencing hearing for Nov. 8. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Violating the Sherman Act, which is a federal criminal antitrust statute, is a felony. The maximum penalty for individuals convicted of violating the Sherman Act is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine.